K-ON! College Idol Project
by LibenSR
Summary: The graduated members of μ's attend to the same college as the graduated members of Houkago Tea Time. A bunch of weird friendships will be built, some old friendships will be tested and a lot of fun will come.
1. Prologue: The Last Live

p style="text-align: center;"strongK-ON! College Idol Project/strong/p  
p style="text-align: center;"strongPrologue/strong/p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""I'm late!" shouted the recently awake Hirasawa Yui, before standing up and running out of her bedroom like her sheets were in fire./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Ui! I have to hurry! The girls are waiting for me!" she exclaimed as she hurried down the stairs. She was about to put her shoes on when Ui appeared./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Oneechan! You should change your clothes" Ui suggested, her brows curving into a worried gesture, as she pointed out that her older sister was wearing her pajamas./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Oh! That's right, that's right~!" and with that, she took off her shoes and went back to her room to change into her school uniform. It took her just a minute to be ready. The stairs suffered a massive damage as the brunette hurried downstairs like an hurricane./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Shouldn't you bring Guitah with you?" Ui asked, her head tilded to the side, her worried expression never leaving her face./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Haaaaaa! I can't believe I forgot Guitah!" Yui shouted, horrified by the fact of having forgotten her most valued item. Ui couldn't help but chuckle as she heard her older sister apologizing to her guitar. The airheaded girl reached the hall in no time, stopping by the genkan to put her shoes on./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Oneechan!" her sister called her, while offering her a toast. Yui simply opened her mouth, letting her sister put the slice of bread inside./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Thnk yu wichan" she managed to say while she ate her hurried breakfast. She finished to put her shoes on and opened the door. "I'm leaving!"/p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Oneechan!" her sister called her again, reaching out to her. Yui slightly turned around to face her sister. "Good luck in today's live! I will be there to see you with Jun-chan and Nodoka!" she sweetly smiled, and her sister couldn't help but mirror her facial expression, her unfinished toast almost leaving her mouth./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""I will do my best!" she exclaimed as she hurried outside, carrying her beloved guitar in her hand. She started to run her way to the concert hall./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Umi-chan will kill me if I don't get there in time!" she heard someone shout. She looked to her right and found a orange-haired girl running next to her, also wearing her school uniform and stick of dangos in her mouth. She gave her a curious gaze before turning her attention to the front. They kept running next to each other until a trafic light made them stop. They had, by then, finished their hurried breakfasts./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Are you heading to the concert hall, too?" Yui asked the girl. Their uniforms looked alike, so she felt kind of curious./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Yes, I am" she answered as she could, managing to catch her breathe./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Hee, seems like we're going to be in the same stage" Yui commented, smiling absentmindly. "It's kind of interesting!"/p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;"The blue eyed girl noticed her guitar bag and smiled back. "It will be an honour" she politely answered, but then she gave her a challenging glance. "But I won't lose to you! We have to do our bests!"/p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Of course, of course!" she answered, feeling excited. The green light turned on and both girls started to run again towards their goal. Although the orange haired girl wasn't carrying a bag like Yui was, they were both running next to each other at the same pace. They were getting close to the concert hall when they realized they had to climb a large amount of stairs. Yui looked at them with an horrified look in her face, but the girl next to her reached out to give her shoulder a little pat./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""You can do it! Out goal is just there" she cheered her as she pointed the end of the stairs. Yui nodded and looked back at the stairs, with a determined gaze this time, and they both started climbing them. When they reached the end, they realized there was a group of girls waiting for them./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Girls! I'm so sorry, I woke up late and I was going to leave with my pajamas and I'm sorry and..." Yui started rambling, feeling herself teary as she spoke./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Mou, we thought you weren't going to make it." Mio said, using a relieved tone./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Yui-senpai, you got us worried!" Azusa groaned./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Well, well..." Yui tried to say, but she was distracted with the other group of girls. She noticed a bluehaired girl hitting the girl who had just been running with her./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""The leader arriving late to the last concert! Unforgiveable!" she roared, annoyance written all over her face./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""I'm so sorry, Umi-chan! I just spent all night practising the moves, and I slept late, and I'm sorry because this is the last time U's will act but... but..." she mumbled the last words, and before anything could be done, the exhausted girl started crying./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""I guess it's okay, don't you think? At least we got here before it was too late" Yui said, interrumping her speach. When the orange-haired faced her, she saw a wide smile on her running mate's face./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Yui..." Mio whispered./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Well, I guess it can't be changed, right? It's not like we didn't expect Yui to be late" Ritsu said, while shrugging her shoulders./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Ricchan is right, we should get ready for our concert. I think we still have time for a cup of tea~" Mugi pointed out, while holding up her bag. Yui's face brightened, her eyes glowing at the thought of the sweets Mugi could have brought./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Mugi-chan, that sounds great! Do you want to join us?" Yui asked the nine unknown girls next to them./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""That would be fun nya!" a short orange haired girl exclaimed./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Shouldn't we worry about the live?" Azusa and a certain redhaired girl said at the same time. When they realized it, they looked at each other with a fascinated look in ther faces./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""I think a tea would be fine, to calm our nerves down. Don't you think the same, Nozomi?" a blonde asked her mate, who nodded in agreement./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""My cards say it's a perfect time for it" she said right before showing them a tarot card that said "The break"./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Hoo! So you are a school idol group, right?" Yui asked, out of curiosity./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""That's right!" Eri answered, proud of herself and her band./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""That's why your faces looked familiar to me! Aren't you U's, the band that won this year's LoveLive!?" Ritsu asked, her eyes growing big with fascination. Mio shot her a curious glance. "N-not that I watch idol stuff, but I heard about you... he, he"/p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""That's us!" Nico proudly said. "And anything of this couldn't be posible without the management of the excelent club president, Yazawa Nico"/p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Being a club president is a tough job, right?" Ritsu stated, pating her own shoulder./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Indeed it is!" Nico sighed./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""You know, our senior members are graduating this year, so... this concert will be U's last concert" Honoka sadly explained while smiling./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Our senior members are graduating this year too, so this could be our last concert too" Azusa said, feeling the same sadness Honoka felt, but hiding it way better than she did./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""But aren't your senior members like... 4/5 of the band?" Kotori asked. Azusa nodded./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""That's why I will have to find new members" she answered, determination written all over her face./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Who are your senior members, by the way? You don't use formalisms between yourselves..." Mugi pointed out with curiosity. Eri, Nozomi and Nico put their hands up./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""We decided to quit them, since we wanted to get closer to each other" Eri explained./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""I told Azu-nyan she could call me Yui-chan, but she never did" Yui complained while pouting./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""That's because you're my senpai!" Azusa replied. Some of the girls chuckled at that./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""It was difficult at first, but it got easier as time went by" Maki explained./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""We got time to bond in our training camps" Hanayo shyly stated./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""That's because our Maki-chan let us stay in her summer house nya!" Rin exclaimed happily, hugging the redhead from the side./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""C-chotto!" Maki complained, blushing a little./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Oh, where do you have your summer house?" Mugi asked out of curiosity./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Well, you know, near the beach, it's nothing special..." Maki mumbled, feeling embarrassed./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Mugi-chan also has some holiday houses, that's where we have our training camps" Mio pointed out./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Really? That's awesome! Maybe we trained in the same place without us noticing" Honoka laughed./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Now that I think of it, you happen to be Nishikino's daughter?" Mugi asked./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Yes, that's me. W-why do you know?"/p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Your father and you have the same eyes" she smiled. Maki blushed and Nico gave her a sly grin, which Maki avoided by looking somewhere else while drinking her tea./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""So it will be U's' and HTT's last concert, right?" Umi said. "It feels kind of sad..."/p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Yeah, but you know, something new is going to start" Yui said, since she tried to stay positive./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Let's give our best in today's live, okay?" Nozomi calmly said, winking her eye at Eri, who was looking certainly down. She smiled at her./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Okay!" all of them answered./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Yosh! Let's do this live be the best live of our lifes!" Honoka exclaimed./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Let's give our bests till the end!" Ritsu followed while rising her fist in the air./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""Oi!" the members of HTT exclaimed./p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""U's Music Start!"/p  
p style="font-size: 12.222222328186px;""We will eat cake afterwards!" Yui said./p 


	2. Chapter I

**Chapter I**

"Suuki na koto de ganbareru nara~" Yui absentmindly sang as she walked towards her bedroom in the students' residence.

"What are you singing?" Mio asked, frowning, confused because that song sounded familiar to her.

"I don't really know. I just remember having heard that song somewhere" she answered, shrugging, not giving it a great attention.

"As expected from Yui-chan" Mugi smiled, and Ritsu chuckled at it. With no one expecting it, Yui raised her arms in the air, showing her possitive yet not so energetic character.

"Isn't it great that we'll be sharing a room?"

"Well, not all of us..." Ritsu muttered, while smirking at her childhood friend, who started to tremble at the thought of having to deal with strangers.

"Please, Ritsu! Let's make an exchange! You will sleep in my room and I will sleep in yours!" she begged, getting on her knees.

"Then what do I get?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I will do your homework!"

"We don't even go to the same class, you"

"I will do it anyway!"

"And besides, how will we explain it to the person in charge to assing the rooms?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side.

"I will explain it to her!"

"Mou, Mio-chan..." Ritsu muttered.

"Shouldn't it be a good chance for you to meet new people?" Mugi asked, trying to cheer up her friend.

"Mugi-chan is right, Mio-chan! Remember when you first met Azu-nyan, wasn't it nice to meet her?" Yui pointed out.

"That was because the four of us got to know her at the same time..." Mio argued, pouting.

"Well, well, I guess there's only one thing we can do..." Ritsu smirked.

"Really?" Mio asked, hopefully wishing her friend would be accepting her offer.

"Let's meet your roommates!" the buchou exclaimed cheerfully.

"Oi!" the two other members exclaimed, leaving Mio with an astonished look in her face.

"Wh-wh-what?!"

"Let's go, Mio-chan!" the guitarist pulled the unsure bassist by her wrist, guiding her to her room, which was, thankfully for Mio, next to the one the girls would be sharing.

"Mou, girls, stop it!" Mio complained, trying her best to remain still, but not being able to do it because of the strengh Yui was using to pull her. In no time, they were in front of the door of Mio's new room.

"Come on, knock on the door" Ritsu encouraged her, leaving a pat on her shoulder. Mio gulped before getting her knuckles close to the door, finally touching it, making no perceptible noise. Ritsu sighed and knocked the door herself.

"Ritsu! Someone might hear you!" Mio hissed.

"That's the point"

"Come in!" a sweet voice said at the other side of the door.

"Oh! Sorry for disturbing~" Yui said with a melodic voice, and opened the door.

"Wait a secon-" Mio tried to say, but it came out as a mutter nobody seemed to hear.

"Oh, welcome~" a blonde girl greeted them, sitting on the ground. She had her hair in a ponytail and her blue eyes left them a little astonished.

"Hi there~! This girl in here is your new roomate, Akiyama Mio. She's quite shy so she wouldn't come here by herself" Ritsu explained, while pointing at Mio.

"Hora, don't make me look like a fool!" she exclaimed while hitting her friends' head with her fist.

"Oh, so you are our new roommate. Welcome, then" another girl chimed in, smiling sweetly at Mio, who blushed uncontrolablely at the blue haired girl.

"Thanks..." she mumbled as an answer.

"So what's wrong with you? It's not like we're going to eat you or something anyway!" a third girl appeared, frowning at her. The blue haired girl went up to her and pulled her closer, holding her breasts with her hands in a painful way.

"You should be nice to our new roommate, okay?" she said in a sweet tone of voice.

"O-okay! Let me go, damn it!" she replied the way she managed to do, and the girl let her go, nodding proudly at herself.

"Don't mind them, they're usually like this" the blonde girl explained, since the four girls standind in front of her looked quite shocked. "Anyway, let me introduce myself. My name is Ayase Eli, it's nice to meet you. These girls were my classmates in the pre-university studies and my good friends, Toujou Nozomi and Yazawa Nico"

"Ayase Eli..." Mio repeated to herself in a whisper, her name sounding known to her, but not getting the reason why.

"It's nice to meet you" Nozomi said, her eyes closed as she smiled sweetly at her.

"You girls look familiar to me" Yui pointed out. She had been silent for a little while, since she had her eyes nearly closed as she looked at the three of them.

"Well, that must be because I'm a great idol! Nico-Nico-Niiii~!" Nico exclaimed, doing an strange gesture as she said the last part.

"Ah, kawaii! Doesn't she kind of remind you to Azu-nyan?" Yui exclaimed, fascinated by the kawaiiness of Mio's roommate.

"I'm nothing like that Azu-nyan of yours! I'm an idol, okay?" Nico complained, pouting and crossing her arms.

"She's like the opposite of Azusa-chan, actually..." Mugi whispered, which caused Ritsu to chuckle.

"Don't mind her, really" Eli kind of apologized.

"You girls look familiar to me, too, somehow" Nozomi said.

"You have known each other since your pre-university studies, haven't you?" Eli asked, smiling at them.

"That's right! We got to know each other because of our club. And it's all thanks to me, the president~" Ritsu answered, full of proud.

"Don't make it sound like it was all thanks to you, you dork" Mio said, hitting her head.

"Well, it was thanks to Mugi-chan's awesome tea that we got to know each other better! We always drank our tea after school" Yui explained, while Mugi nodded cheerfully.

"Why don't we have a tea right now? That would help us to know each other better. We could have it in our room" Mugi suggested.

"That would be great, actually" Eli smiled and she stood up.

"Our room is next to yours, by the way" Yui pointed out.

"Oh, that's nice. So we'll be neighbours then" Nozomi commented, as Ritsu opened the door and held it open so the rest could leave.

"Our new roommate should be arriving soon, too" Ritsu murmured. After Nico left the room, she closed the door behind her.

"_Welcome to the paradise!_" Yui exclaimed, using English, as she opened the door of their room, which was empty, meaning that their new roommate hasn't arrived yet.

"_Thank you, thank you_" Eli answered in English as well. When they all had entered the room, Mugi started preparing the tea, as the girls sat down around the table.

"So in which academy did you study?" Mio asked.

"We studied in Otonokizaka" Nozomi answered.

"Oh, our schools were near each other. We are from-" the name of the academy was said, but it was interrumped by the sound of Mugi's teapot, announcing that the tea was ready.

"Tea is ready~" Mugi said cheerfully. "I brought some sweets from Belgium"

"B-Belgium?" Nico asked. "Not that I'm impressed. I-I buy sweets in Belgium all the time. Ha, haha, ha"

"Horosho" Eli muttered.

"I'll have this one!" Yui exclaimed as soon as Mugi placed the tray of sweets on the table, pointing it with ther index finger.

"Then I'll have this!" Ritsu quickly announced.

"C-chotto! Let our guests choose first!" Mio suggested.

"You're a guest, in fact, too, Mio-chan" Yui joked, sticking her tongue out.

"Mou!"

"Well, it's okay, really. We'll have anything" Nozomi sweetly said, smiling at the girls.

"Anything? No, I want that one!" Nico exclaimed while pointing at one of them.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped" Eli laughed, shrugging her shoulders. She nodded and muttered a thank you as Mugi poured some tea on her cup, which she didn't notice when was it placed in front of her.

They shared a cheerful conversation as they peacefully drank their tea. They talked about school, about Mio's friendship with Ritsu, and Eli's friendship with Nozomi. The seven of them seemed to get along quite well.

"Suki na koto de ganbareru nara~" Yui sang, like she did earlier, as she was about to eat her sweet. Eli almost spilt her tea and coughed a little. Her friend Nozomi patted her back. "What is it?" Yui asked, blinking twice.

"Do you know that song?" Nico asked, her eyes wide opened with shock

"Well, I don't remember when I heard it or who sang it, but it seems it got stuck in my head" Yui chuckled.

"AH!" Ritsu and Mugi shouted at the realize.

"What is it?" Mio asked, still doubtfounded.

"μ's! μ's!" Mugi exclaimed, pointing at the girls in front of them with her index finger. That made the four of them realize.

"It's true! They are the senior girls from μ's!" Mio brought her hand to her mouth in shock.

"We met in the festival! That's when I heard that song!" Yui said, all the pieces of her mind puzzle clicking together at the realization.

"Houkago Tea Time!" Eli exclaimed, feeling happy that she remembered where she had met them before.

"Isn't it great?" Nozomi smiled.

"That's so cool! I'm glad we got to be together again!" Ritsu smiled. "See, Mio-chan? You're not with strangers!"

"I'm so glad!" Mio exclaimed, teary. They chuckled at Mio's reaction.

There was a knock on the door, and the girls turnt their heads.

"Come in~!" Ritsu said.

"I'm sorry for disturbing. I was assigned this room and..." the girl who opened the door started explaining.

"A-RISE?" Nozomi muttered, shocked.

"Isn't that...?" Eli whispered.

"Tsubasa Kira from A-RISE!" Nico exclaimed.

"Horosho..."


	3. Chapter II

**A.N.- Hey there! Thank you for reading and leaving your nice reviews. This is the first fic I publish at , so I'm really happy to see that there are people interested in reading it. I thought a Love Live! x K-ON! crossover was needed, so I will do my best to make it happen~.**

**Chapter II - Special Member of the Keionbu?**

"So what are we doing here, again?" Jun asked for the third time. Azusa sighed before answering.

"We are waiting for the new members"

"But nobody has come in years!" Jun complained, throwing her arms in the air. Ui shoot her a kind smile.

"Somebody will come today, I feel it"

"Ui-chan..." Azusa muttered, fascinated by her positiviness. The three of them turned her heads when they heard someone opening the door.

"Mou, you haven't brought any tea yet..." Sawako-sensei complained as she entered the room, the sound of her heels

"If you want some tea you should bring it yourself!" Jun argued. Sawako pouted at that.

"Don't mind her, please. We are all a little nervous because we are not getting new members to join our club" Ui explained. The teacher crossed her arms and sighed.

"What a pity... that you are nervous"

"Eh?" Azusa blinked in confusion.

"Because I got two forms today from two girls who wanted to join your club" Sawako announced victoriously, imagining herself being cheered by her students, being told that she was prettier than before.

"Really?" Ui asked, standing up from the chair she was sat on with a wide smile on her face.

"That's great, Sawako-sensei! Thank you so much!" Azusa exclaimed with happiness. She stood up and bowed. The other members did the same. It wasn't what Sawako expected, but at least the girls seemed happy with the good news. It wasn't expected to be getting new members in their third day of school, they had barely started promoting the club. They even didn't have to use the animal costumes they used to wear to attract new members, which was a pity for Ui, since she liked the one her sister used to wear.

"Make sure to make them want to stay!" she tried to cheer them as she walked towards the exit.

"Thank you, Sawako-sensei!" the girls said as a goodbye, while waving a hand at her.

"Well, I guess we should rehearse a little, don't you think?" Azusa said.

"Oh, that's right!" Jun said.

The girls gathered around the rehearsing zone. Ui had decided that she was going to play the guitar, like her sister used to do, so it would be a way to feel close to her sister, now that they were far away from each other for the first time. She had bought a guitar with Yui and her friends, using her month's allowance. Thanks to Mugi, it was way cheaper than the initial price. It was a white Gibson Les Paul, which looked like Guitah, but its name was Key. Azusa had frowned a little at the name, but she hadn't complained about it, and wasn't planning to do so.

They were all ready. This was going to be their first time rehearsing together, appart from that time last year, when they played together on a rainy day. Azusa had Muttan with her, and was about to play it when she realized something. She opened her mouth with worry, and the other girls seemed to notice.

"Azusa-chan?" Ui asked.

"We- we don't have any songs" she mouthed, and her mates wide opened their eyes at the realization.

"AAAAAAAH!" they shouted at the same time.

* * *

"Ne, ne, Yukiho" Honoka chimed in, as she saw her sister going up the stairs, heading to the flat roof they used for their rehearsals with her friend Arisa. "Aren't you excited? This is your first day! You will be rehearsing with your sister"

"I'm really excited!" Arisa answered, while Yukiho just blushed.

"Well, I guess it's exciting, too."

"Let's get going, then. The girls must be waiting for us. Haaa, I hope we are not too late!" the energetic orange haired girl said as she went up the stairs faster than she did before, leaving the girls at a little distance behind her.

"Honoka, wait up!" her sister exclaimed. When they reached the roof, the rest of the members were already there. Maki and Rin where stretching together, as well as Kotori and Umi. Hanayo seemed to have waited for Honoka to arrive for stretching, which she thanked, because that way they would show the new girls how to do it.

"Girls! I'm sorry for being late, I had some extra work at the council" Honoka explained, bowing as an apologize. The girls who were stretching stoped to look at their former leader.

"Don't worry, Honoka-chan! It's no problem nya!" the new leader said energically.

"Well, let's welcome our new members! Kosaka Yukiho and Ayase Arisa!" Honoka announced, pointing at them with her hand as they entered the room. Hanayo started clapping her hands, and soon everyone was clapping as well.

"We should start our rehearsal then. There's this new song I wrote, and Maki-chan gave it a nice rhythm and melody. Kotori-chan and I figured out some of the moves and..." Umi's words were interrumped as a phone started ringing. Everyone turned around in the direction of the sound, the song "No brand girls" from μ's coming from Maki's jacket's pocket.

"Excuse me" she said in a mutter, taking her phone and going somewhere around the roof so she could talk without disturbing anyone. Rin looked at her while she walked away, barely listening to the words Umi was saying. She concentrated herself in listening what Maki was talking, trying to guess who she was talking to.

"Jun? Why are you calling me?" she heard Maki say. 'Who is that Jun? Could it be... Is MY Maki-chan in a relationship with a man?!' Rin thought, her eyes widening. "Yes, I'm quite busy right now. No, there's no way I can go there. No way" she replied, using her usual tsundere tone. "Really? Is it that bad?" she frowned, which made Rin worry as well. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. I will be there in 15 minutes, okay? Wait for me at the entrance" she said, and hung up her phone. When she raised her gaze, she saw Rin looking at her.

"What was it?" Rin asked with curiosity.

"It's... nothing, really. I have to go, I'm sorry for missing the rehearsal but... I have to go" she simply said, rushing her way out. The girls looked at her with a confused look.

"Maki-chan..." Umi muttered.

"We should follow her, something doesn't seem right" Rin suggested. The girls seemed doubtfounded.

"Well, I was going to tell Maki to be our center in this song, So I guess it wouldn't be alright to rehearse it without her" Umi pointed out.

"Let's go then!" Honoka exclaimed, hurrying to the exit, followed by her mates.

* * *

"Maki-chan! Thanks god you came!" Jun exclaimed as she ran towards the redheaded girl, followed closely by Azusa and Ui. Once she stood in front of her, she shot her an smile "How have you been?"

"Didn't you need my help with something?" Maki asked, not wanting to deal with trivial conversations.

"Mou, Maki-chan" Jun pouted. "Well, we need your..."

"Don't get closer, Arisa, she will see you!" someone hissed behind Maki's back. The girls looked towards the direction they heard the voice, and they found not only one, but seven girls standing there.

"Oh? Are they your friends, Maki-chan?" Jun asked.

"Yes, they are." Maki said, frowning at the girls. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, we got worried, you know..." Kotori tried to say.

"So you are attending another school appart from Otonokizaka, aren't you?" Rin deduced, looking at the girls who were in front of Maki.

"What? Are you kidding me?" Maki asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Listen, Maki-chan came here because I- well, we wanted to ask her a favour" Jun said, slightly blushing.

"Oh! Aren't you that cute girl from that awesome band... What was its name? Houkago...?" Honoka asked, looking at Azusa.

"Houkago Tea Time" she answered, looking quite astonished that she was recognized.

"So cute!" Honoka exclaimed, with a wide smile on her lips.

"Horoso" Arisa commented.

"Well, who are they?" Rin asked, looking at Maki, who sighed as an answer.

"We are this school's light music club. I'm the club's president, Nakano Azusa. I'm sorry for causing all of you trouble" she apologized, bowing at the girls.

"It's fine, it's fine" Honoka said, waving her hands.

"Maki-chan and I know each other since our childhood, we have lived next to each other forever." Jun explained, smiling as she kind of reminded the great times both of them had shared playing on the streets. They friendship had gotten quite off when Maki had started looking down, although Jun had tried to keep in touch. But when Maki had debuted as an Idol, Jun got her friend back.

"We asked her help because... well, you know, our senior members graduated and none of us is good at writing melodies, so..." Ui started.

"... we were wondering if Maki-chan, who is nice and kind, and owns a big chocolate and gold heard, would help us with the melodies" Jun asked, trying her best to make her best puppy eyes. The three of them looked at her

"Does anybody of you write lyrics?" the redhead asked, raising an eyebrow. Ui nodded in answer and pointed to herself.

"I write a lot of poetry, would it be useful?" she asked, opening her school bag to give Maki her notebook, which was full of her poetry. Maki grabbed it and read through the pages. The members of the light music club looked tense as they watched her pass the pages.

"Well? Will you give us a hand?" Jun asked as soon as she closed the notebook.

"What do I get out of it?" Maki asked, playing with a lock of her hair. She used that gesture whenever she had to think about something.

"The satisfaction of helping a friend?" Jun said, smiling at her friend.

"Not enough" Maki complained.

"Then... we will help you with anything concerning to your club! Anything, really!" Jun said, and both of the girls nodded.

"Please, Nishikino-san!" Azusa said.

"It would be helpful to get some help sometimes..." Umi pointed out.

"Umi-chan is right, I guess it wouldn't hurt us to get some new help" Kotori brought her index finger to her chin, adopting a thoughtful pose.

"They could be our managers, or something like that, and give us some advices" Honoka finished.

"Specially Azusa, who is almost an idol for everyone who support Houkago Tea Time" Hanayo chimed in, smiling excitedly.

"I heard they had a concert in London" Arisa commented.

"Well then... I will do it. It's not like it's a great effort for me to make new melodies, anyway" Maki said, using her usual tsundere tone.

"Really? That's my Maki-chan!" Jun exclaimed, jumping and hugging her friend.

"I'm glad I misunderstood everything nya" Rin said, feeling slightly calm.

"What did you think?" Maki asked, frowning with curiosity.

"No-nothing nya!"

"You're so telling me!" Maki groaned.

"I just got worried about ourrrr Maki-chan! I'm your leader, after all"

"Right, right..." she muttered, not so sure, but not wanting to argue about it. "May I have your notebook? I could figure out some melodies, and leave them in a CD in Jun-chan's mailbox"

"Of course, of course! As long as you want" Ui smiled brightly, and the tsundere couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Well, we didn't get time for rehearsing today" Yukiho sighed.

"Don't worry, Yukiho! We will have enough time for that" Honoka cheered.

"We still have a lot of things to figure out, like our new band name and who will be the center and such." Umi pointed out.

"We should think about a new name for our band, too" Azusa commented, looking at her band mates.

"Anyways, we should go home for today" Jun pointed out.

"That's right" Ui nodded, smiling.

"Well, let's go nya!" Rin cheered.


	4. Chapter III

**Chapter III**

_'Dear Azu-nyan,_

_How have you been? Is Ton-chan alright? _

_We are fine! We are officially college students. Today is our first lesson! Although I'm not really good at paying attention, I kind of can't wait. _

_We met a lot of different people in here! Do you remember the girls of that idol group, μ's? They happen to be Mio-chan's roomates! You should have seen Mio-chan's face when she found out that she wouldn't be sharing the room with us. _

_Mugi-chan, Ricchan and I are sharing the room with Tsucchan, the former leader of A-RISE. We are getting along quite well!'_

"What is taking you so long to write? Hurry up or you will be late!" Ritsu said as she finished her breakfast and started to pick her stuff up, giving Yui a worried look.

"Heh?" Yui muttered, not looking up at her as she wrote the last sentence. _'I hope our beloved light music club is doing well! Do your best!'_

"You better hurry, Yui..." Mio suggested, frowning at her, as she also stood up to carry her tray to the place it should be left so it would be cleaned afterwards. Mugi did the same a little after that, before smiling at Yui, who still had food on her plate.

"Do your best, Yui-chan!" she cheered her up.

"Hah!" Yui exclaimed in realization, as she fastly pressed the 'send' button. She quickly ate her food as she watched her friends leave to their classes. "I don't want to be late" Yui complained, trying to eat as fast as she could.

* * *

"Yui will always be Yui" Ritsu commented as she walked towards the building of their department, accompanied by her friend Mugi, who attended to the same class. Mugi nodded as an answer.

"Um, um. Well, well, well, well" she said, smiling slightly. Ritsu looked at her mate, noticing something.

"Mugi-chan, are you nervous?"

"Well, well, well, well..." she repeated, frowning and trying to keep her smile, which seemed quite tense.

"Looks like two happy sheeps are going to be my classmates" someone else said, as she appeared behind Mugi and grabbed her breasts.

"KyaaaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaah!" Mugi shouted, horrified.

"No-Nozomi!" Ritsu exclaimed, shocked by her sudden appearance.

"He, he, he" she laughed, letting go of Mugi as she pulled the two of them into a hug. "Seems like we are going to be good friends this semester!"

"Well, well, well, well..." Mugi started again, blushing madly. She pulled them away and they resumed their walk to the

"I'm sorry about that, Kotobuki-san" she winked at her and smiled sweetly. "Consider it as a greeting card"

"I would prefer if you would do something more normal, like you know, shaking hands and such" Ritsu commented, raising one of her eyebrows.

"Oh, is our Ricchan jealous because she didn't get any?" she asked, putting her hands up in the air in a grabbing gesture.

"Of-of course not!" she stuttered.

"So I thought" Nozomi smilked. "Well, let's head to class together then!"

* * *

Mio was struggling, walking alone towards her classroom, looking around as she watched her classmates getting along and talking to each other. She was totally out of her comfort zone, finding herself alone in her new classroom, with her new teachers, everything seemed strange to her. Once she entered the room, she saw how huge the place was. There were a lot of chairs, which meant that a lot of people would be there. She started shivering, sweating as she thought about the idea of having to meet so many people. She looked around and thought about where to sit, and once she found a place, she sat down and waited in silence, getting more nervous as the time went by. 'What if someone talks to me? What would I do?'

"Oh, it's nice to see you here" someone commented as she sat next to her. Mio jumped, falling to her side. She was too into her thoughts that she didn't expect anyone to talk to her at the exact momment she was starting to panic about meeting someone. "Are you okay?" the girl asked, reaching out to offer her hand to help her up. Mio looked up and found herself looking at two blue iris.

"Ayase-san..." she muttered, feeling more calm as she realized that it was just her roomate.

"You can call me Eli"

"Eli" she repeated, looking at the girl who smiled sweetly at her, and she took her hand and stood up. "Sorry, I'm a little nervous, being this my first day..."

"It's okay, everyone around here must be feeling the same way you do" she tried to encourage her mate, watching how Mio sat down again.

"I hope not exatcly the way I'm feeling right now, for their own good" she gave a nervous smile, trying her best to remain calm. She stared down at her hands, as she played with her own fingers. Eli reached out and patted her shoulder, expecting that Mio would look at her. When she did, she gave her a reasuring smile.

"Don't worry so much, Mio-chan. I'm with you right now, it will be alright. I won't let anything bad happen."

Mio was totally speechless, but she kept staring at her mate, who kept smiling at her. She couldn't say anything, although a lot of thoughts went through her mind. She was thankful, indeed. She was also feeling calm, like, really calm, for the first time since she started her college life. Although she had Ritsu, Mugi and Yui, she always felt a little nervous inside. She always wondered if she would someday get over her nervousness.

"Well, alright. Everyone, sit down!" the male teacher ordered. None of the two of them had noticed when he had entered the room, so they were quite shocked.

"Let's get to work, Mio-chan!" she encouraged her, smiling at her before taking out her netbook and putting on her reading glasses. Mio smiled back at her, feeling cheered up as she brought out her notebook and a few pens.

* * *

"I CAN'T BE LATE!" Yui screamed as she ran towards her classroom. Her fears increased when she found that the door of her class was closed. She doubted a little about opening it. "How should I do it?" she asked herself in a muter.. "If I open it too quickly, everyone will turn around to look at me, which would annoy the teacher, who would hate me, and it's just the first day..." she stated. "So, if I open it too slowly, she might not notice me and-"

"What are you doing here?" someone asked, behind her back. Yui jumped in shock, almost falling backwards, but the other person didn't let her by holding her by the waist.

"Oh! It's just you, Nico-chan!" she exclaimed, feeling relieved.

"What do you mean with 'just me', you." she complained, raising an eyebrow in an annoyed manner. "Hurry up and go in"

After saying that, she simply entered the same classroom Yui was attempting to enter. Yui felt happy that she knew at least someone in her new classroom.

"Yes!" she answered with enthusiasm, following her now classmate into the room. The teacher shouted at them, but it was nothing new for none of them.

* * *

"That was really exhausting" Ritsu complained as she rubbed her lower back. "I thought they would ask us about our holidays or something..."

"I don't think you undertand what college is, you" Nozomi teased her.

"It's nice to know that you're attending the same classes as we do, Nozomi-chan" Mugi honestly said, their morning incident totally forgotten.

"I'm glad, too" she answered, smiling at both of them.

"We are meeting Tsuu, Yui and Mio for lunch, would you come with us?" Ritsu suggested, but Nozomi shook her head, politely.

"I'm sorry, I already told Eli I would have lunch with her. I'm going to call her right now to know where she is"

"Alright then!"

"Will you have a tea with us before bedtime?" Mugi asked.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss your tea" Nozomi replied, smiling at the blonde girl. "Well, see you later~!"

"_See you~!_" Ritsu said, using her English skills. Both of them waved her goodbye and watched her leave. Once she was far away from them, Ritsu turned around to face Mugi. "Well, let's go then!"

"Um!" Mugi nodded, smiling cheerfully. They both started walking towards one of the schools cafeteria. They had agreed on that one because it had french fries, and french fries made Mugi happy, and none of them was going to ban Mugi's happiness.

"I wonder if Yui arrived on time to her first lesson" Ritsu commented as they entered the cafeteria.

"Girls! We are right here!" Yui exclaimed, waving her arm at them so they would see her. Mugi waved her hand happily at them and ran up to them, while Ritsu was slowlier as she was trying to understand what was going on. She noticed that Nico was sitting next to Yui, and Mio was next to Eli as well as she walked closer.

"Hora, look at who has made a friend" Ritsu teased Mio. "I told you there was nothing to worry about"

"Mou, Ritsu" Mio blushed, and Eli just laughed.

"Well, now that everyone is here, we better order before they are running out of food" Tsubasa suggested, standing up.

"Go ahead, I will wait for Nozomi in here" Eli said and everyone nodded as they stood up. Yui was waving her goodbye as Nico and her passed by her, and Eli realised something. She held Nico by her wrist and made her stop. "Ah, Nico-chan! Order two special menus for Nozomi and I"

Nico raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well, Nozomi and you are surely special already." she joked, getting a playful punch from her roommate. "But okay, okay, I will get you the food. I guess you have let yourselves get influenced by Honoka and Rin, since you both love hamburgers now"

"How not to love them?" Eli shrugged her shoulders and handed her the money to pay for the burgers. Nico took the money and ran up to catch the rest.

Now that Nico had mentioned Honoka and Rin, she felt a little homesick. She wanted to know a little about them, maybe she could message them later, but she knew it wouldn't be the same. She wanted to be with them, to rehearse with them, maybe just hang out with them. Just as she was deep in her thoughts, she felt someone pat her shoulder.

"Ah, Nozomi-chan..." she muttered, smiling at her friend. But Nozomi knew something was wrong, she knew her friend enough to notice that kind of things.

"You were thinking about them, weren't you?" she asked as she sat down next to her. Eli had put an extra chair next to her because she wanted to sit next to her best friend, which Nozomi didn't know, but she was going to be thankful once she noticed. Eli gave a sad nod.

"Nico-chan mentioned Honoka and Rin and well... I felt somehow nostalgic" she admitted, looking down at her hands. Nozomi reached out and held her hand. Eli was surprised at first, but once she got used to her comforting touch, she began playing with Nozomi's fingers.

"I do miss them, too..." she whispered. Eli looked up at her, and saw her giving her a sad smile. "Look, one we get a free weekend, let's go and visit them, okay? We could hang out together, maybe go to a karaoke..." she suggested, trying to cheer her friend up. Eli thanked her giving her an smile, and giving her hand a slight squeeze.

"I'm glad we are in the same college" Eli muttered, looking at their hands.

"So am I" she replied, giving her hand a slow caress.

"Here, have your special menus" Nico said as she placed the tray of junk food in front of them. Nozomi looked quite astonished.

"I told Nico-chan to order our food" she explained.

"And she did? Wow, I'm surprised, Nico-chan!" Nozomi teased.

"I shouldn't have done it, mou!" Nico complained, causing Nozomi to laugh. Eli pouted a little when she felt Nozomi was letting go her hand, but her pout was fastly replaced by an smile as the other girls began to sit around them.

"I'm so hungry~!" Yui exclaimed, rubbing her own stomach.

"Let's dig in, then" Tsubasa suggested, opening the box of her chicken nuggets.

"Itadakimasu~" they said at the same time.

* * *

"It has been such a tiring first day, don't you think?" Yui commented as she sat down on the floor, in front of the table where they were going to have their teas. All of them were there, except for Tsubasa, who had left to make a phone call.

"I didn't expect college to be so stressful" Ritsu complained, massaging her own shoulder.

"Well, it has been quite interesting" Nozomi chimmed in, trying to remain positive. "My cards told me it was going to be a great change, and so was it".

"We are really lucky to have classmates we already know, right?" Mugi said, as she served the tea.

"That's right" Eli nodded. "I was really glad to find Mio-chan in the same class"

"I don't know if Nico shares the same luck..." Ritsu whispered, looking at Yui, who was chuckling while talking with Nico, who looked slightly annoyed.

"As we exited our last class, there were some senior students promoting their club activities" Nozomi commented, taking a sip of her tea and sighing once she had swallowed it.

"That's right, there were a lot of them" Mugi pointed out, nodding with enthusiasm.

"Have you thought of joining any of them?" Eli asked.

"We will go to the light music club, of course!" Ritsu confirmed, and the senior members of Houkago Tea Time nodded in agreement.

"Sorry girls, my mom can't remain quiet" Tsubasa laughed as she entered the room. "What were you talking about?"

"We were talking about clubs" Eli answered.

"We want to join the light music club, Tsuuchan! Do you want to join it as well?" Yui asked.

"The light music club?" she repeated, blinking. "Oh, sorry girls... The light music club was closed last year"

It took three seconds for the members of Houkago Tea Time to realize what she had just said.

"EEEEEEEEH?!" the four of them shouted.

"IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE, IT CAN'T BE!" Mugi repeated to herself, shaking her head as she covered her ears.

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO, GUITAH?" Yui cried out as she hugged her beloved instrument.

"BUT I WANT TO PLAY THE DRUMS!" Ritsu complained, playing the air drums with anger and frustration.

"What will I do?" Mio whispered in a sad tone. The former idols looked at them, not knowing how to cheer them up.

"Well, you can always... you can always..." Eli tried to comfort them, looking at Nozomi and Nico for help.

"You could always join the idol club" Nico suggested.

"Heh?" Yui blinked twice.

"Nico-chan is right" Tsubasa said, and Nico fangirled at the fact that the former leader of her favourite school idol group had called her Nico-chan. "You should consider it. Being an idol is the best thing that could happen to you."

"And you" Nico looked at her mates, Eli and Nozomi "should consider it too."

"Nico-chan, we already talked about that. We want to concentrate in college..." Eli explained, but couldn't help but feel full of doubts.

"Maybe you should think about it again" Tsubasa suggested.

"Being an idol, huh..." Mugi muttered, and looked at her bandmates.

They had a lot to think about.


	5. Chapter IV

**A.N.- Hi there! Thank you for leaving your nice thoughts in the reviews. I'm glad that you're enjoying this fanfiction, because I'm really enjoying writing it as well. Thank you, really! I hope you enjoy this chapter. The girls have a lot of things to think about, but maybe things won't be the way they planned.**

**Chapter IV**

The members of Otonokizaka Academy's club of Idol Studies were gathering in their clubroom, surrounding the table. Most of their heads were looking down, as they used the silence of the room to concentrate on their own thoughts. Each of them had a pencil and a piece of paper. Some of the papers had some words written on it, while others were just empty. One of the white papers belonged to the leader, who was getting nervous at the thought of not coming up with any name. She eventually broke the silence, as she stood up and groaned in frustration.

"I can't do it!" she complained, shaking her head. Maki facepalmed herself, sighing at her partner's behavour.

"Well, we are having trouble as well, but at least we are not complaining."

"That's because...! That's because...!" Rin tried to say, but gave up and just pouted as she sat down again. Honoka was using the same gesture.

"Hmm, this is harder than the first time... Oh, maybe we could-"

"We are not letting others choose our name again" Umi rejected, knowing what Honoka was about to say. The orange haired girl pouted.

"What about 'we are not μ's but hey'?" Yukiho suggested. Kotori curved her brows but smiled at her politely.

"I don't think that's a good name" she replied.

"Oh! I got it!" Hanayo stood up with excitement. "Let's call ourselves 'Rice-Dise'!"

"As expected from Kayo-chin, always related with rice nya~!" Rin smiled.

"I don't think that one is going to work anyway" Maki groaned.

"Do you have any name, Maki-chan? You seem to have written a lot" Umi noticed.

"Heh? Well, it's nothing special, really..." she blushed. Before she could say anything else, Rin took the paper from her hands.

"Hora, Maki-chan! Let me see, let me see!" she smiled, as Maki tried to get her paper back.

"Mou, stop it!" she complained, as she tried to reach out for her paper.

"Shinyuu9..." Rin muttered, fascination lighting up her face.

_*It means Close Friend 9. Pronounced like Shinyuukyuu. _

"It sounds really nice" Umi said, smiling at the redhead.

"As expected from Maki-chan!" Honoka cheered.

"But why nine? We are 8 right now, aren't we?" Arisa asked.

"That's right, but..." Honoka frowned.

"Well, in the past, we got to the places we got to because our fans helped us a lot. Our classmates helped you to get to our live on time, helped us to make our lives using the auditorium..." Maki started explaining, as she played with a lock of her hair. "I thought it would be a way of saying 'you're a member of the idol club, too' or 'we love you like a close friend'"

"Oh..." Hanayo muttered.

"That's so deep" Umi said, using the same tone as Hanayo, as she was astonished by their composer.

"Who wants Maki's name to be our idol group's name?" Rin asked, raising her own hand. All the members, except for Maki, who was still blushing, raised their hands as well. "It's decided! We are ShinyuuKyuu!"

"I really like the name!" Kotori clapped her hand with enthusiasm.

"It really fits us, right?" Honoka commented.

Maki kept her head down as she madly blushed while her group mates celebrated their new name.

* * *

"I'm definitely, definitely, definitely NOT going to be an idol!" Ritsu exclaimed to her classmates as they walked towards their next lesson.

"We already heard that, you" Nozomi chuckled. She had been teasing her for a little while now, and Ritsu seemed a little tired. "I was just teasing."

"Nozomi-san, how did you decide to become an idol?" Mugi asked her.

"You can call me Nozomi, I told you" she said before answering. "Well, it was something I found entertaining from the begining, since Honoka-chan and the girls started training. But the truth is that the cards told me. And the cards knew that we needed to be nine members, and I really wanted to join them. μ's will always be a treasure for me, not as an idol, but as a human being."

"Oh..." Mugi muttered, looking at the front as she processed everything Nozomi had said.

"Why did you decide to join the light music club, Mugi-chan?" Nozomi asked.

"Well, in fact I was looking for the choir, but Ritsu insisted and I couldn't say no. I thought it would be fun, and I found myself doing things I wouldn't have thought I would do someday. Like, going to a fast food place and sharing fries! And also, getting slapped by your friends!" Mugi pointed out with enthusiasm. Nozomi blinked twice before looking at Ritsu for answers.

"It's a really long story."

"Well, why did you form the light music club, Ritsu?" Nozomi asked.

"I really wanted to form a band, because Mio-chan and I watched a festival on the TV, and we both decided to form a band someday. And I would play the drums, and she would be the bassist, and we would play in the budokan~!" she explained with full enthusiasm.

"Well, I think you shouldn't think about becoming an idol then. You should surely try and reopen the light music club" she said.

"If we managed to open the light club again in our school, we can open it here!" Mugi encouraged her.

"You're right, girls!"

"But now that I think of it, Mugi-chan, are you sure you don't want to be an idol?" Nozomi asked her. Mugi blushed because of the way Nozomi was looking at her.

"Well, I don't think I would be able to do it. I hardly remember the lyrics when it comes to singing with the girls..." she admited, as she blushed deeply.

"Hmm, maybe it's a matter of time."

"But I really like to play the keyboard, and I really like being in a band with everyone" she smiled.

"Girls, you better hurry or we'll be late to the next lesson" a classmate said as she walked pass them.

"Okay!"

* * *

"Nico-chi! Let's go to class!" Yui exclaimed as she knocked on her classmate's door. She heard some groans at the other side of the door.

"Do you have to be so loud?" she heard someone complain inside the room. Yui blinked twice, since she didn't realize that she had been loud. She hadn't thought that her classmate could not be a morning person like she was. Although she found it difficult to leave her bed, Yui was a possitive thinker, and all her words were possitive enough to make everyone around her feel good.

"Oh, sorry, sorry" she apologized as she rubbed the back of her neck. The door was opened and she found herself in front of a face masked girl, wearing her pajamas and having her hair down.

"Who said I wanted to go to class with you anyway?" she complained, giving her a cold glare. Yui was trying her best not to laugh.

"Well, I..." she tried to say, but she chuckled.

"What are you laughing at? My beuty must be kept some way, right?" she crossed her arms. Once she calmed herself, she spoke.

"Nico-chi, you are going to be late if you don't get dressed right now..." she pointed out. Nico turned around and glanced at the clock on the wall, the one Nozomi had bought for Eli's dorm, before knowing that they were going to be roommates.

"Not again..." she muttered. "Not again!"

"Let's go, Nico-chan!"

"Don't say that! Don't put pressure on me!" she said as she slammed the door shut. Yui doubted before knocking on the door again.

"Should I wait for you here?" she asked. The door opened again, but just a little this time. Yui could see Nico's red eye peeking out.

"... Yes, please."

* * *

"Are you ready for today's class, Mio-chan?" Eli asked as she sat down next to her classmate, placing her bag on her own lap. She was about to take out her netbook when she noticed her new friend was looking gloomy. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think I'm feeling ready for today's class, or for anything..." she muttered. Eli frowned and looked at her with a worried face. She had been looking down since yesteday.

"Is it because of the light music club?" Although she had made a question, she already knew the answer, which was verified when Mio nodded her head. She sighed before answering. "Listen, Mio-chan. I used to be the president of my Academy's student council. Really, it's not big deal to open a club. I'm sure it won't be a big problem to open the club here in college, either"

"Yes, but..." she mumbled, tears begining to form in her eyes. Before Eli could really react, she was being hugged tightly by her friend. "Eli-chaaaan! I don't want to wear any weird costume for attracting new members!"

Eli was surely confused, but once she reacted to what her roommate had said, she chuckled and hugged her back. "What are you talking about? Nobody is going to make you use weird costumes. Are you sure you're talking about a light music club?" she joked as she stroke her hair. Mio pulled away so she could look at Eli's face as she explained.

"Well, Sawa-chan told us to wear different costumes in order to get students' attention, so they would be interested in joining. We used to wear maid costumes, nurse costumes, even animal costumes..."

"I see. Well, the maid costume is actually cool, you know. I had to wear it once while being a member of μ's" she shrugged, but that didn't really calm her classmate down. "Who is Sawa-chan, a friend of yours?"

"Well, kind of. She used to be our teacher."

"I see..." she smiled, as she felt a sweat drop falling down from her neck. "Well, Sawa-chan isn't here now, so nobody will make you wear any weird costume. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Mio asked, as she wiped her tears. Eli reached out and wiped a tear that she had left with her thumb.

"Unless you are considering joining the Idol club" she smirked, and Mio blushed madly.

"What? Me? Nononono, no way! I already get so nervous when I'm playing the bass in front of them, it's also embarrassing to sing in front of them so how would I-"

"I know, Mio, I was just joking" she stuck out her tongue and Mio sighed.

"Mou!"

"Then you know what to do, right?" Eli smiled sweetly at her, before taking out her netbook and her reading glasses from her bag and placing them in the table in front of her. Mio just looked at her, not knowing what to say.

* * *

After having lunch with their classmates and roommates, Nozomi and Eli decided to have a walk before their next lesson. They felt like they hadn't got any alone time lately, so they made the best out of the time they had left. As they were walking next to each other, they shared some thoughts on the conversations they had with her classmates.

"Do you think any of them would be thinking about joining the Idol Club?" Eli asked Nozomi. Nozomi always seemed to know what other didn't, so Eli trusted her more than she could trust anyone else appart from her sister.

"I haven't talked with Yui, but Mugi and her seem the only ones who would be likely to become idols" she answered.

"Have your cards told you that?" Eli raised her eyebrow.

"Oh, no, it was just something I thought about" she gently smiled at her friend. Eli just nodded in silence. "Could it be that a certain blonde is worried about her new friend?"

"What? N- well, yes" she answered, which made Nozomi chuckle. "Mio-chan looked really down yesterday. She was looking better after I talked to her but still, she seems to like the light music club so much..."

"They were a great band, don't you think? Houkago Tea Time..." Nozomi said. Eli nodded.

"My sister told me that they did a concert in London."

"Really?" Nozomi looked surprised.

"I don't think my sister would lie to me, you know?" Eli joked. Nozomi shook her head.

"You and your jokes..." she muttered.

"You won't deny that you like them, somehow" she smirked.

"In fact, I do."

Eli blushed at her comment, but before she could say anything, her phone started ringing inside her pocket. She picked it up before knowing who it was.

"Hello?"

"Eli-chan! Thanks for picking up! I didn't know if you would be available..." she heard someone say.

"Honoka-chan?"

"Oh, is it Honoka-chan? Put your phone on speaker" Nozomi said, and Eli obeyed.

"Hey, Honoka, I have put the phone on speaker"

"What's up there?" Nozomi greeted with a wide smile.

"Thanks god! I really need your help girls!" the orange haired girl surely sounded like she was in trouble.

"Is it about the council?" Eli asked, getting worried about what her friend could had done.

"No, it's about Arisa-chan. Well, and about my sister Yukiho, too."

"Is something wrong?" Eli asked, her worries becoming bigger at the thought of her sister being in trouble.

"No, no! Everything is fine, really! It's just..." she stopped for a couple of seconds, making them wonder if the phone was working wrong. "I don't know, I'm afraid they were expecting a lot from us and I want them to feel more... free. Arisa keeps using the formalisms, although we told her she could use our names."

"Well, my sister is still getting to know your traditions, maybe she just needs a little bit of time" Eli answered, now that she knew that her sister was fine she felt like she could breathe again.

"Oh, I didn't think about that. Do you think we should do some activities together during the holidays? Maybe in a traditional japanese place, so she feels more comfortable with us..."

"That would be great, Honoka-chan" Eli smiled, and Nozomi nodded.

"Hmm, it's a great idea" she commented.

"Hm, you're right! Nozomi-chan, Eli-chan, thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, you're welcome" Nozomi laughed.

"Is the last year always so crazy? I feel like I'm doing thousands of things at the same time!" Honoka commented. Eli chuckled at that.

"At least the school is not going to be closed while you are the president of the students' council, you must feel relieved because of that" she joked.

"I'm so glad!" she exclaimed with relief. They both laughed, since they had really missed her. "But it's really challenging, you know?"

"Hm? What?" Nozomi asked.

"Starting again... with people you know and new people to get to know. It's always exciting."

Eli went quiet after that, and Nozomi noticed it, but she prefered to remain calm just not to worry the orange haired girl.

"Hm, it's always challenging."

"You must be challenging yourselves as well, right? Everything is new, everyone is new..."

"Well, remember that Nico-chan is still our roommate" she tried to joke, but she was feeling more and more worried about her friend, who was still quiet, glancing at the ground.

"That's right, that's right. Oh, I must go now, Umi-chan and Kotori-chan are waiting for me. Let's talk again someday!"

"You can count on it!" Nozomi said.

"Bye girls!"

"Bye~!"

"Bye." Eli mouthed, her voice sounding weak and broken. Honoka hung up the phone and Eli put it back in her pocket.

"You don't look okay, Eli-chi" her friend simply said, as she placed her hand on top of her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Do you think we should challenge ourselves as well?" Eli asked, looking at her friend's eyes.

"What do you mean?" she tilted her head to the side, confused.

"Are we really doing our best at trying new things, as we said we would do when we first got here?"

"Well, our first day was just yesterday, Elicchi. Maybe you just miss Honoka so much that-" she began to say, while rubbing the back of her ear.

"Nozomi. I know you. You're hiding something."

Nozomi jumped up a little, but she couldn't hide it anymore. She nodded and took a tarot card out from her pocket. The card she had randomly taken was the same one they had seen a while ago. 'The change'.

"I had the feeling this was going to happen" Nozomi muttered.

"Are you feeling the same way I do?" Eli asked, taking her friend's hand and placing it on top of her chest, where her heart was, beating. Nozomi took a little breathe before nodding.

"I felt it ever since we met them for the first time, at the festival."

"That long?" she blinked. Nozomi nodded again.

"Let's go."

"Huh? Where?"

"You already know the answer."

* * *

"Nico-chi, you're so cute!" Yui exclaimed at her classmate.

"Heh? Of course I am! Who do you think I am?" Nico smirked.

"As expected from Nico-nyan!" she cheered.

"This girl..." Ritsu muttered, as she heard some of the girls around her chuckling at their antics.

"They are like comedians" Tsubasa laughed.

"I think I have seen something similar in the past, but the reaction definitely wasn't that" Mio chuckled.

"That's right, right~. Our Azusa-chan used to be so shy~" Mugi commented, cupping her own cheek with her hand. Ritsu looked back and noticed that Eli and Nozomi were running to reach them. She narrowed her eyes, confused because how hurried up they were, since there was still plenty of time to get to class.

"Wait up!" Eli said as they were trying to catch them. The girls stopped and turned around to look at the two of them, who were trying to catch their breathes.

"What's wrong with you two?" Nico asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

"We are... we are..." Nozomi tried to say, but she looked at Eli, who glanced at her with determination. She nodded at her, knowing what that glance meant, and let her say what they had both agreed to say. Eli stepped forward.

"Ritsu, Mugi, Yui, Mio-chan" she started, before bowing at them. "Please, let's form the light music club together!"

"Please!" Nozomi exclaimed as she bowed as well.

The girls stayed quiet for a while before exclaiming in shock.

"What?!"


	6. Chapter V

**A.N.- Hi there! I'm thankful for your comments, you are really awesome and I'm happy because there are people out there like you, who carefully read and enjoy commenting them. **

**Chapter V**

"It was really unexpected, but it was kind of epic, right?" Yui commented as they were sitting around the table at their room, just like every night, to enjoy Mugi's tea and sweets. "Eli-chan looked so serious, like 'Ritsu, Mugi, Yui, Mio-chan, please, let's form the light music club together!'"

"My voice doesn't sound like that at all" Eli pouted, but everyone's laughter made her laugh as well.

"But I'm glad that we got new members, even before trying to open the club" Mugi smiled.

"He, he, he. That's because I'm the best president ever!" Ritsu praised herself.

"Don't take the credits, you" Mio complained as she hit Ritsu's head.

"Why have you decided to join the light music club? You were both really good at being idols back then..." Tsubasa asked, frowning as she spoke, a little confused because of the decision the girls had made.

"Well, Elicchi and I told ourselves that we were going to challenge ourselves once we got to college" Nozomi explained.

"But this dork didn't want to tell me that her cards had already told her that we were going to join your club" Eli teased as she punched her shoulder in a playful way. Nozomi pretended that it had hurt her, but Eli raised an eyebrow at her so she stopped fooling around.

"Sorry, sorry. Sometimes the mistery of the cards must be kept in secret" she winked at her.

"So, what instruments do you play?" Mio asked, feeling really enthusiastic.

"Well, you should ask Eli what instrument she doesn't play, so we would leave earlier" Nozomi pointed out, as she took her mug of tea and took a sip of it.

"You're exaggerating!" Eli pouted. "When I was in Russia I learnt to play a lot of intruments while practicing traditional ballet."

"Wao, that's really impressive" Mio muttered, her eyes glowing just imagining how good their new member would be. Ritsu patted her shoulder so she would come back to earth.

"So, which are the instruments you can play?" Yui asked.

"Well, it has been a while since then but... I'd say that I can still manage to play the violin, as well as the viola, the chelo and the contrabass. I'm also good at playing the piano and the guitar as well."

"A violin would be an interesting add to our music, don't you think?" Mio suggested.

"It would be interesting to see how it goes!" Mugi nodded her head in agreement.

"Maybe I could play an electric violin. It would fit your music better" Eli commented, and everyone seemed to agree, although Yui couldn't help but imagine a terrifying band, like the one Sawa-chan used to have.

"Come back, Yui" Ritsu patted her back, and the airheaded girl smiled at her.

"Then, then, Nozomi-chan! Do you play any instrument?" Yui asked. Nozomi smiled a little before answering.

"No, I don't. Not at all."

"That's quite troublesome..." Tsubasa commented.

"It's alright, Tsucchan! I couldn't play the guitar before I joined the light music club, but right now I'm good at playing it!" Yui replied as she gave her a peace sign.

"Which instrument would you like to play?" Mio asked. Nozomi thought about it for a second before answering.

"Traditional Japanese Drums."

Everyone looked a little cold at her answer. Nozomi began to chuckle.

"Just joking. I would love to play the guitar."

"Mou, Nozomi-chan!" Eli laughed.

"I almost believed it" Mio sighed in relief.

"Although the traditional japanese drums would be fun to play" Nozomi said, and Ritsu nodded in agreement.

"Do you have your own guitar? If you don't, we could go and buy it this weekend" Mugi suggested.

"That would be nice, since I don't have a guitar."

"Does your father own the shop?" Ritsu asked, and her classmate nodded as an answer.

"I guess I will be able to bargain again~"

"Nico-nyan, you have been quiet for a while..." Yui commented, frowning at her classmate.

"I'm still disappointed at you girls. You could have been great idols if you wanted to" Nico said as she crossed her arms and sighed.

"That's the point. They didn't want to" Nozomi teased, and her roommate groaned as an answer.

"Why don't you join us, Nico-nyan?" Yui asked.

"Join you? Me? Tsk."

"Don't be so rude, Nico-chan" Eli frowned.

"We have the best College Idol Club of the country, so why would I want to join us?"

"We should have warned you. Nico-chi adores idols" Nozomi explained, before taking another sip of her tea.

"Not only I adore them, I'm one of them" Nico bragged. Nozomi and Eli looked certainly cold at her answer.

"What will you do, Tsuuchan?" Ritsu asked the girl who was sitting in front of her. "Are you thinking about joining any club?"

Tsubasa nodded before answering.

"Maybe the poetry club. I need some rest from my idol activities. But I will fully support all of you."

Nico blushed when Tsubasa smiled at her, but tried to hide it. Nozomi gave her an amused look and Nico stuck out her tongue at her.

"This year will be quite exciting, right?" Yui asked to Mugi, who was sitting beside her. She nodded cheerfuly in agreement.

"I can't wait!"

"Let's fight till the end!" Ritsu exclaimed, raising her fist in the air.

"Oi!"

* * *

"Azusa-chan!" Ui called her friend as she entered the clubroom, still panting and trying to catch her breath. "I'm sorry for being late. Wh-"

She looked up and saw Azusa standing in front of the window, looking outside. She got closer to her and examinated her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, placing her hand on top of her shoulder. Azusa faced her and realized that she had been spacing out for a while.

"Sorry, sorry. I was just thinking about the senpais."

"Are you worried about them? Because of their club?"

Although she had made the question, she already knew the answer. Ui took out her phone from her pocket and read the text message again.

_'The Light Music Club is closed Ui-chan!_

_This is terrible! Really terrible!_

_What are we going to do?!'_

"Yui-senpai sounded like they were in real trouble."

"But they surely will have figured out something, don't you think? I don't think they would give up without fighti-"

Just as she was to finish her sentence, both their phones made a sound. Azusa took the phone out from her pocket to read Yui's new message. She noticed the message included a photo as well. It was a self-taken picture of Yui, along with the members of Houkago Tea Time and two other girls.

_'We are on our way to the student's council! _

_It's about time to open the light music club!_

_Houkago Tea Time, fight-o!'_

"They seem quite fine. They even found new members, it seems" Ui commented, smiling cheerfuly.

Azusa though, looked at the screen of her phone with an unexpressive face. Ui couldn't tell what her feeling was, but she could clearly see that something was bothering her.

"Azusa-chan?"

"Sorry we are late" Jun chimed in, with the new band members behind her. They were Matsuoka Keika and Koyama Hikaru, both student's of the second year.

"Oh, just in time! Let's begin the rehearsal."

Ui looked at the president of the club as she made her way to the rehearsing zone, a worried look expressed through her face. She would have to wait and ask her later.

* * *

Mugi, Mio, Yui and Nozomi were waiting outside the building where the office of the student's council was. Ritsu had asked Eli if she would help her, since Mio had told her that she was in her school's student's council, and that made her feel a little bit more secure. It felt like having their friend Honoka back, who would always be permissive with their club.

As they waited for them outside, they talked about some things. Mugi and Yui were playing some kind of game with words while Mio and Nozomi took the chance to get to know each other. Mio asked her a few questions about her life and Nozomi gladly answered them, as she threw some questions on her way. It was quite a cheerful conversation.

"Then, Mio-chan. How do you feel about Eli-chi?" she suddenly asked, which made Mio froze for a second before trying to process what Nozomi had asked her.

"Eli-chan? Well, she's a reliable person. I think I could trust her, and I'm glad we are in the same class."

"Eli-chi is such a wonderful person, don't you think?" Nozomi asked, tilting her head to the side. Mio nodded.

"Hm."

"Oh, Ricchan, Eli-chan!" Yui called them as she saw them exiting the building, waving her arm at them. Mio noticed that her childhood friend was holding a massive amount of papers, and she shivered at the thought of what it could be. She looked back at Nozomi, who's face was covered with worry as she watched her friend get closer to them. Eli seemed seriously exhausted. When they both reached their friends, it was more than noticeable that they were both pale and tired.

"What's wrong?" Mugi asked, worry covering her face.

Nozomi sensed what was going to happen next, so she reached out and held her arms out to hold Eli, who collapsed on top of her as her knees failed to hold her. She held her close, patting and slowly caressing her back.

"What's going on?" Mio asked, looking first at Eli and then to her childhood friend.

"It... was... so... exhausting." Ritsu barely managed to say before sitting on the ground, unable to keep standing.

"You both look like the survivors of a zombie apocalypse" Yui muttered in a worried tone.

"What happened?" Nozomi asked, her voice barely coming out as a whisper only Eli managed to hear. The blonde girl pulled back from Nozomi's embrace, still holding her forearms. She looked at the floor as she explained what had happened.

"There are a lot of things we must do to form a college club. And the student's council president would talk to us using that serious tone, like she didn't trust us or she didn't believe that we were going to get everything."

"Oh, that reminds me of a certain someone" Nozomi teased her, using a soft tone, just for making Eli smile a little.

"This one was worse than how I used to be. We must fill all the forms they have given us and, also, we must write an statute with rules and articles of our club."

"And most importantly, we must be 15 members at least..." Ritsu sighed, wipping the sweat from her forehead.

"That's impossible!" Mio exclaimed. Ritsu nodded and faced her childhood friend.

"That's what we told her."

They sighed. They were using their lunch time for this, so they were feeling really dissapointed (and hungry). Nozomi stroke Eli's back as the blonde leaned her forehead on her shoulder.

"What are we going to do?" Eli muttered.

"We should scout new members, then" Mugi suggested, not really sure of what she was saying. Mio froze for a second.

"I'm not going to wear anything embarrassing! I'm telling you by now!"

"But then how are we going to scout new members?" Ritsu pouted.

"It may sound selfish but I don't want any new member to join us."

Everyone turned to look at Yui, surprised at the words she used.

"Yui?" Mio questioned, raising a curious eyebrow at her friend.

"Well, if we tried to open the club, it would take us a lot of time, and I don't know about you, but I can't wait to play with you."

Everyone seemed to agree at that, but there was something that still meant trouble for their activities.

"Then where are we going to rehearse?" Eli asked, frowning with a worried expression.

"Oh!" Mugi brought her hands to her mouth, her eyes glowing at the realization.

"What is it?" Ritsu asked, quickly standing up at the sight of her surprised friend. Mugi put her hand inside her pocket and took out a folded paper.

"Do you remember this girl who was giving pamphlets outside our building when we were going to class?" she said, pointing at the leaflet she had received that morning. Nozomi nodded, remembering having received that pamphlet as well, but not knowing where she had placed it. Ritsu tilt her head, not really remembering it. "Well, it's about a building near the campus. It's for students who, like us, need some place to rehearse."

"That's really cool!" Ritsu exclaimed.

"As expected from Mugi-chan!" Yui cheered.

"Ehehehe..." Mugi chuckled. "I think my father owns this company as well, so it wouldn't be troublesome to rehearse there. I will have to call him tonight to ask him for permission, but I don't think he will have trouble."

"Really? Thank you! Thank you so much, Mugi-chan!" Eli reached out and hugged the shorter blonde tightly. Mugi laughed and hugged her new friend back.

"You're welcome, you're welcome!"

"Then, it has been decided. We don't need to become a club." Mio said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Thanks god, since I didn't want to fill all those forms..." Ritsu sighed with relief. Eli laughed.

"Let's fight from now on."

"Oi!"


	7. Chapter VI

**A.N.- Hi there! I know some of you may be confused because I added some OCs inside the Sakuragakuen Light Music Club, but I had some reasons for it. You'll see someday in the future~**

**Someday itsu no hi ka~ Okay now. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter VI**

A week had gone by since the girls decided to form their own band instead of opening the light music club again. The next morning after that day, though, after Nozomi bought her new precious guitar, Eli told the rest that they should at least give it a try. Everyone seemed to agree, so when Monday had arrived, they had put up a lot of posters to promote their club. Eli spent some of her nights trying to fill the never-ending forms, sometimes with the help of Mio, who would stay up just for helping her.

It was Friday, and the girls were going to rehearse for the first time. Mugi and Yui couldn't help themselves but feel excited all day since they woke up. Ritsu and Nozomi were fine with their classmate, since it was always nice to see someone being so cheerful since early in the morning, but Nico sighed several times as she listened to her classmate rambling and rambling about their club, and how cool Eli would be.

Nico had started to attend the idol club that Monday. The girls had asked her about it, but she would give evasive answers, like 'You would know if you had actually joined the idol club' or 'A true idol must keep some secrets to herself'. Nozomi had tried to talk to her about it, but Nico would always say that everything was fine.

The girls talked about it as they made their way to the rehearsal room.

"I think she's not resting well. I guess their rehearsals are quite intense..." Eli commented. Yui sighed and placed her hands on her own neck, rubbing it a bit.

"I'm quite worried about her. She's not paying attention in class either."

"Not that she payed attention to her lessons back then. We always had to lend her a hand" Nozomi pointed out, but Yui shook her head.

"She used to pay attention, or at least, more than I did."

"Maybe I should try talking to her later..." Eli said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"I don't know her much, but she looked certainly down yesterday at tea time."

Mugi nodded at Ritsu's statement, putting her index finger on top of her own chin.

"I wonder if she's okay..."

Everyone went silent after that, each of them thinking about the way Nico had been acting recently. Before they could realize, the were already standing in front of the building where their rehearsal room was.

"Let's do our bests today." Ritsu tried to cheer up everyone, flashing them a reasuring smile. It didn't seem to work 100%, but at least a 80%.

"Oi!"

* * *

"Well, are we ready for today's last rehearsal?" Umi asked her bandmates.

"Yes!" they answered. Umi nodded her head before clapping her hands to the rhythm and mouthing 'One, two, three, four'. As she did that, she watched the members dance to the song she had written the lyrics for. The charming melody Maki had composed for this song was what made it really magical. She looked at each member, trying to point out some of their flaws. She looked at Kotori, who was energetically dancing, giving her best to the choreography. Next to her was Yukiho, who seemed more and more comfortable with the group. Now she even smiled while dancing, which had taken her a lot of hard work. Her eyes went to Hanayo, who looked quite tired but was still doing her best. She nodded slightly, pride filling her gaze. Honoka was standing next to her, her energy never fading as she danced to the song, giving all her heart in each movement. Her gaze travelled to the girl next to her and her eyes were now filled with worry. The center of this song was looking not only exhausted, but also unenthusiastic.

Maki had always been introverted, but she had never looked that way. Umi knew she had to talk to her, but she had never talked directly to her.

"Okay, enough for today. Good work, everyone" she clapped her hands, this time for awarding them. Everyone had started to pick their towels or her water bottles and got ready to leave, when they heard someone call them.

"Wait up!"

Everyone turned around to look at Arisa, who was holding her breath, now that all her senpais were looking at her.

"Well, we have been rehearsing this and some new songs for a while, so I couldn't help but wonder, when are we going to sign up for Love Live!?"

All the former members of μ's froze at the question, while Yukiho just nodded at first, but then realized that it could be troublesome for their partners.

"Well, maybe it's a little too soon..." Kotori smiled politely.

"But Arisa-chan is right. We should sign up for Love Live! before next month, otherwise we won't be able to participate" Hanayo, being the idol expert as she was, pointed out.

"If we want to be more promoted, we should sign up this week or the following one, like we did last year" Honoka mouthed, not even realizing that she was talking aloud, deep in her thoughts as she was.

"I think that's something we must think about" Rin suggested. Everyone nodded.

"I must go home. See you tomorrow."

Umi turned to look at the center of the song leaving. She had thought about talking to her after the rehearsal, but she looked certainly tired. Maybe she was just feeling exhausted after all the training. She looked back at the members remaining, noticing that all of them were deep in their thoughts, except for Arisa, who was looking at Umi.

"Did I do wrong? Was it too soon?" she asked the taller blue haired girl. Umi gave her a reasuring smile, that Arisa couldn't help but mirror, and smile heartly when her senpai placed her hand on top of her head and messed her hair up.

"Don't worry. It was something we had to think about, so I'm thankful that you brought it out, Arisa-chan."

The girl smiled at her, nodding. Umi couldn't help but think about the girl's older sister, picturing her where Arisa was. She felt like she would cry any time soon. She just missed her, and the other seniors, a lot, but she wouldn't let those feelings take the control. She had to work harder.

* * *

"That was surely cool!" Yui exclaimed as they sat down around the table as Mugi prepared the tea. Tsubasa and Nico were still doing some club activities, but it wouldn't take long for them to arrive.

"I didn't know playing guitar would be so complicated" Nozomi complained as she massaged her own hand. Eli chuckled at her and reached out for taking her hand in hers, rubbing her fingers.

"You shouldn't practice that much, you know. Stop when it hurts" she pointed out, and Nozomi nodded.

"Yes, mum."

Eli chuckled again before placing a chaste kiss on her palm, before letting it go.

"It was amazing the way Eli-chan played the electric violin while we played Fuwa Fuwa Time" Mugi pointed out, as she got the tea ready.

"It wasn't that-"

"It was _really_ amazing." Mio corrected before Eli would say that it wasn't that much. Eli smiled heartedly at her.

"Do you really think so? Thank you so much."

"Oh, I'm so tired" Tsubasa said as she entered the room. "Oh, you are here already. Good work today~"

"Good work today, Tsuuchan" Ritsu held her hand up and Tsubasa gave her an enthusiastic high five. She gave another high five to Yui and sat down between her and Ritsu.

"How have you been?" she asked. She mouthed a 'thank you' to Mugi when she placed a cup in front of her.

"We have been rehearsing some of our old songs" Ritsu explained.

"And some of our old songs, too. We were surprised because Yui had figured out the chords of some of our songs by herself."

Eli's words surprised Tsubasa, who looked back at her roommate.

"Is that so?"

"Oh, it wasn't that difficult. I even figured out the chords of that song of A-RISE, Shocking Party."

"Really? I would be glad to listen to your version!" Tsubasa smiled at her mate.

"Hehe, he, he..." Yui laughed, feeling moved because of the enthusiasm her mate was showing.

"Good work today..." someone muttered as she entered the room, and everyone turned around to look at an exhausted Yazawa Nico. Something made the girls of Otonokizaka froze. The other girls had noticed too, but figured out it was something quite normal.

Nico wasn't wearing her usual twin tails.

Not only that, but didn't react to Nozomi's usual teases, or Yui's usual compliments. Nor she didn't open her mouth.

Definitely, Eli would have to talk to her.

* * *

Worried about how Maki was feeling, Umi had called Honoka that night before going to bed. Honoka, although her airheaded personality, had noticed it as well. They had talked for half an hour about it, wondering what they should do about it. They hadn't reached any conclusion, but Honoka had to hung up before her mother got angry at her. Umi had nodded silently as she pressed the 'end call' button.

The next morning, she sent a text message to Maki, telling her to meet her near the temple where they had their practices. Maki agreed without questioning, probably thinking that it was a part of their intense practice.

When Umi arrived to the place, Maki was already there. Her arms were crossed as she looked at the ground.

"Have you been waiting for a while there?" Umi asked, tilting her head with worry. Maki jumped at the sound of her voice, before shaking her head as to say no. Not a word came out from her mouth after that as her gaze returned her previous position. Umi kept looking at her, not sure of what to do next. 'Is she thinking that the rest of members where coming, too?' Umi wondered.

"It's just you and I today."

Maki looked up at Umi, surprised at that fact.

"What for?"

Umi winked an eye at her, she herself surprised at the flow of her moves, before turning around without looking back at her mate.

"Just follow me and I will show you."

Maki somehow agreed with a loud sigh and began to follow Umi. Her senior reached back to hold her hand, which shocked the younger girl, but didn't stop her from holding a grip on her hand.

Umi always felt like she could understand Maki. Although there were obvious differences between their stories, she always thought that they had things in common. They both had been introvert before they got to know Honoka. Socializing had always been complicated for both of them, but Maki somehow managed to pull out her cool and outstanding personality, which dragged a lot of attention from the fans, and even from the members of the group. When she decided that Maki would be the center of the song she had written, she knew perfectly the reason why: nobody but Maki would stand out without she herself noticing it.

But somehow, that didn't seem to be working, since Maki had been looking both physically and mentally exhausted, and that worried Umi, not only because of the song, but most of all, because she was afraid that something really bad could be happening to her friend. They weren't as close as she was with Honoka and Kotori, but Umi still considered Maki her friend, and her love and affection towards her kohai was as strong as the one she felt towards all the former members of μ's.

As they reached their destination, Umi looked back at Maki and smiled gently at her.

"I would want you to join me in my archery training today. Do you think you would be able to do it?"

"Why would I-" she started, but then she realized that Umi was trying to share something that meant a lot to her with her. She blinked at the realization before nodding her head, mouthing a silent 'yes'.

"Thank you, Maki-chan."

Maki raised her eyebrows at her friend as they entered the archery club room. She closed the door behind her before turning to her mate, who smiled gently at her again.

Maki didn't understand what was going on, but she would give her best to understand.

* * *

Yui looked certainly unsure about what to do as she walked around in circles in front of the room that stood next to their's. She shook her head once or twice before finally deciding to knock on the door.

"Come in~" Eli's sweet voice spoke.

Yui opened the door and poked her head in. Eli was sitting in front of the table, where her netbook was, wearing her reading glasses.

"Sorry for disturbing you. I was wondering, did you talk to Nico last night?"

Yui's worried look deepened as she watched the blonde sigh and shake her head.

"No, I couldn't. She didn't let me."

"I wonder what's going on..."

"Me too..."

They both stood in an uncomfortable silence for a minute, both thinking about what could be going on.

"Is she sleeping yet?" Yui asked, and Eli shook her head again.

"She left early for some practices she had with the Idol Club."

"I don't know what's wrong, but I think it has to do with the Idol Club..." Yui muttered, certainly worried.

"Of course it does."

The girls turned around to look at Nozomi, who was standing in front of the door, giving them her usual misterious smile.

"Nozomi...?" Eli wanted to ask her if she knew about it, but the words wouldn't come out.

"Today they are presenting the Idol Groups of the Idol Club at the cafeteria. Maybe she was worried about it."

"A presentation? Nico would have told us, right?" Eli asked, feeling really surprised at those new facts. She took of her glasses and closed her netbook before standing up.

"That's what worries me the most. I got this news today, after leaving the temple near here. It was written on a poster near the residence."

"How many time do we have left before the live?" Yui asked.

"About an hour or so."

"Let's go then! We will be in the first line to show Nico how much we support her!" Yui exclaimed. Eli smiled cheerfuly at the idea.

"That would do it!"

Nozomi didn't say a word as she looked at the girls, who started rambling about how they would show their support to Nico.

She had a feeling that it wasn't going to work.

* * *

Maki and Umi had been practicing archery for an hour. Maki looked uncertain at first, but after a couple of shoots, she started enjoying it. After an hour of practicing, Umi told her to stop for a break, and Maki gladly nodded her head in agreement. They sat down on a bench, outside the practice room, enjoying the sunshine on their skins. Maki, who was feeling more cheerful, offered herself to go and by some drinks at a bending machine near there, and Umi gladly accepted her offer. She waited until Maki came back with two cans of fresh red tea, before throwing the comment she had been intending to do for a while now.

"I'm glad you're looking better after practicing with me today."

Maki blinked twice before returning to her usual tsundere attitude. She turned to look somewhere else, before sighing.

"It's not like I had other option."

Umi chuckled at her answer, shaking her head. That was the Maki she used to know.

"Maki-chan, I was wondering... Has something going on through your mind these days? You have been looking down lately, ever since we decided our name..."

Maki looked back at Umi, and then brought her index finger to her chin, allowing herself to think deeply about what to answer her. She sighed and shook her head.

"It's... Nothing, really. I don't really know what's going on."

"Hm? Is that so?" she raised a curious eyebrow at her. She nodded as an answer.

"Really. I don't know what's wrong with me. But everything now seems..."

She went silent for a minute. Umi thought she was trying to think about the correct word, but she then noticed that she already knew what she had to say, but she was unsure about saying it aloud. Umi placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Seems...?" she tried to help her. Maki sighed and placed her hand on top of Umi's.

"It seems... It seems really _easy_."

Umi blinked in confusion.

"Easy? Isn't that supposed to be somethin good?"

"I know but..." Maki played with a lock of her hair. "Right now, it's bothersomely easy. I don't know how to explain it, but I have this feeling that back then, when we were μ's members, everything was more complicated. It was more like a challenge. But now, everything it's settled down and..."

"... You don't feel challenged anymore. Is that so?" Umi asked, giving her shoulder a little pat before placing it on top of her forearm. Maki nodded in answer.

"Why do I feel like that? Why?"

Umi was shocked to see tears forming in Maki's eyes, and she reached out quickly to wipe her tears away with her thumbs.

"Hey, don't cry, okay?" she muttered in a comforting tone, before hugging her. "We'll figure it out, okay? We'll figure it out..."

Maki spent a long time sobbing on Umi's shoulder.

* * *

"Please, everyone take your seats. The presentation of this year's Idol Groups will begin within minutes."

The band members of Houkago Tea Time, along with Tsubasa, who had agreed to come and cheer for Nico, sat down at the seats located near the stage. Yui, Mugi, Ritsu and Eli were holding some signs with Nico's name written on it, along with some energetic messages. Eli's poster was quite entertaining, since it said 'My heart is Nico-Nico-Ni-ed'. It had made Nozomi chuckle when she first read it.

The music started and the everyone made cheering noises. Some people were even holding lightstick, and the girls were surprised to see that Tsubasa had a pink lightstick on her hand. The MC entered the stage and people started clapping her hands.

"Thank you, thank you~. Welcome to the first event of the Idol Club, where we will show you this year's Idol Groups."

Yui cheered, along with her band mates. Nozomi mouthed a soft "Oi", still unsure about the weird feeling she was getting.

"Please, I would like to present you today's first group, Shark-Day!"

Everyone clapped their hands as the members of Shark-Day entered the stage. Nico wasn't in that group, so the girls held down their signs as they waited for the next group to appear. They clapped their hands after they made their self introductions. They sang one song and left the stage. After them there was another group, Pink Journey, but Nico wasn't in that group either. After their presentation, the MC presented the next group.

"Please, welcome the group which certainly will be a full success this year: 365 Days."

This time, the girls were cheering a lot, since they saw Nico entering the stage. The four of them held up their signs, and for a second, they could see tears forming in Nico's eyes, which she quickly tried to cover. Still, there was something wrong. Nico wasn't wearing her twin tails here either, and her costume wasn't as stunning as the ones the other members were wearing.

"Please, introduce yourselves to the audience!"

"Yes! I'm the leader of 365 Days, Ayaka! Let's be friends from now on, please take care of me!"

"I'm the subleader, Reina, please take care of me!"

"I'm Asuka!"

"I'm Karin!"

"I'm Tomoko!"

"I'm Saki!"

"I'm Yazaw-"

Eli's eyes widened when the member staying next to her, that Saki girl, placed her hand on top of Nico's shoulder, holding it in a rather painful looking grip.

"You know that, Nico-chan. We only use our second names, not our first names."

"I-I know. I'm Nico."

Yui held down her sign, looking shocked because of the tone Nico had used. Mugi and her looked at each other, both sharing the shock.

"Please, take care of us!"

They all bowed at the audience, who clapped their hands. Eli realized that she could recognize some of the girls. They were former members of rival School Idol Groups.

"Well, we will now sing a song 'Kaze ni fukarete'. I hope you enjoy it."

The girls were even more shocked than before, now understanding why Nico had been feeling so down. They were shocked when a staff member took Nico's microphone before the song started playing. Nico tried her best to smile at the audience as she danced in the background.

Nozomi felt tears forming in her eyes. This was really unfair. She remembered the first grade student who was determinated to become an idol. She remembered the girl who made her dream come true along with everyone else and tried her best to never give up, as they finally won the Love Live!. She had all kind of flashbacks about Nico and her enthusiasm of becoming an idol, and her dream never looked like this.

Without saying a word, she stood up and left. Eli tried to stop her, but she did feel the same as Nozomi. She couldn't see her friend like that.

This wasn't fair.

None of that was fair.

* * *

Hours later, Nico found herself crying on top of her bed back in the dorm. She had been doing this ever since she got into the Idol Club, and she felt frustrated that she couldn't talk about it. She wanted to tell Nozomi whenever she had asked her, or Eli, since she had come to visit her room last night, but words wouldn't come out. She always wanted to look like she had everything under control. She prefered them to believe that she was still a huge idol.

She sat up and drank a sip of the tea Mugi had left in front of the door with a note that said 'I still think that you looked wonderful on stage. I hope you feel better with this drink'. There was also a strawberry shortcake, which Mugi knew it was Nico's favourite. Nico felt thankful towards her, but she couldn't tell her. At least, not now.

She remembered the way Nozomi had left, picturing the image of her friend's back as she walked out of the cafeteria. Tears began forming in her eyes again, but she tried to remember the good things, such as the signs the girls were holding. She chuckled heartly remembering the one Eli was holding, or the pink lightstick her beloved senior Tsubasa was holding and waving at her when she saw her enter the stage.

Thinking about that, she began eating the piece of shortcake Mugi had gotten for her. She wiped her tears away and she tried to enjoy the dessert.

Once she finished, she was feeling slightly better. She had felt her phone vibrate inside her pocket once or twice, but she hadn't wanted to answer it till now. She took it out from her pocket and found two messages: one from Nozomi and the other one from Yui. She opened the one Yui had sent her first.

_'Nico-nyan!_

_Please, cheer up!  
_

_I don't want to see you suffer..._

_You're the one who makes me want to do my best everyday._

_So, I will do my best to cheer you up everyday!"_

Nico frowned a little in confusion. She never knew she made Yui feel that way, but she was surely thankful. She opened the one Nozomi had sent her after a deep breath. It had a picture of μ's attached to it. Nico was in the center of the picture, smiling brightly as she was hugged by the girls.

_'That's the Nico-chi I want to see._

_A never giving up Nico-chi._

_A wonderful hearted Nico-chi._

_A smiling Nico-chi._

_All of us love that Nico-chi._

_The one who would go 'Nico-Nico-Nii' at us whenever we were on trouble._

_And although we teased her about it, we were heartedly thankful for it._

_I want **my** Nico-chi back.'_

Nico held back her tears and nodded her head as she read the message again. As she looked at the picture, she couldn't help but smile. She went to the menu of her phone, she dialed a phone number and waited until someone answered on the other side.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Maki-chan? I hope I'm not disturbing you."

There was silence for a couple of seconds.

"Nico-chan?"


	8. Chapter VII

**A.N.- Since user Lord Mayor Mike Powell has asked it, I feel the need to answer. As I have been writing this fanfiction, I have been fully enjoying their interactions, finding them really entertaining but also deep. Like the friendship Yui and Nico have, which is rather complicated, or the relationship Mio and Eli have. Mio finds support in Eli, and tries her best to support her as well. I also find amusing the friendship between Ritsu and Tsubasa, because they care about each other, but neither of them will tell one another about it, because they don't have that kind of relationship where telling those things is important. **

**As far as I know, I can only see a pairing happening in this fanfiction, which I didn't expect it happening when I first wrote the ideas for the chapters, but after thinking about it for a while, I think it would be a nice idea. **

**So, wait and you'll see! I hope I don't make you suffer, though... Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter VI**

Nico could imagine Maki playing with a lock of her hair as she nodded her head before muttering a "Yes" to answer her question.

"I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

"You are always disturbing, but no, you're not interrumping anything. I was just listening to music" Maki teased, smirking, although she knew the other girl couldn't see her.

Nico smiled at her friend's antics, happy that some things hadn't changed. She felt a tear running across her cheek and she quickly wiped it out.

"Are you going to talk or am I going to listen to your silence? Which, by the way, it's not that bad."

Nico couldn't help but heartly laugh, which surprised Maki, who looked at her phone in disbelief, thinking she had heard wrong.

"Gods, I have missed you."

If Maki had been surprised before, she was shocked now, but after a couple of seconds of shock she couldn't help her smile anymore.

"Is that what this is about? Mou, it's not like we are in different countries, you know. You can always come to visit us!" she tried her best to use her tsundere tone, but her voice was flattering at the thought of the sweet words Nico had said. "It's not like I haven't missed you, though..."

They stayed quiet for a minute, both listening to each other's small giggles of joy because of being able to talk again.

"Well, how are you doing as an idol? I know you won't have reached my level, but-"

"It's not like you're the best example, you already know that" Maki teased, smirking, proud of herself for being able to make a joke although she felt like she could cry anytime. Her smirk turned into a smile when she heard Nico laugh, but she began to frown as the laughter turned into a sobbing. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's... It's nothing. Forget it. I shouldn't have called..."

"Hey, no, don't hang up! Please, Nico!" she nearly begged, clunching on the phone.

Nico kept crying as Maki whispered recomforting words, like 'I'm here', 'Calm down'. Once she felt that Nico was starting to calm down, she decided to ask.

"Hey, Nico... What's wrong?"

"I'm... I'm not doing that well on the idol club."

Maki blinked twice before answering.

"Heh? But wasn't it the best College Idol Club of the country?"

"It's not because of the club, it's because of the members of the group I'm in..." Nico explained, and Maki whispered something behind her breath.

"I don't know what's going on, but it must be something really strong for you to come to me for help" Maki tried to tease her, as a way to cheer her up.

"Nozomi-chan must be really mad at me. And Eli is probably really disappointed."

Maki nodded slowly, understanding her situation.

"But, even if they were fine with me, I would have called you anyway after what has happened today."

Maki smiled slightly before returning to her worried stare at her desk.

"What has happened?"

* * *

Mio was standing in front of Eli's door, waiting for something to tell her to knock on her door or not. She needed a sign to know if it was a good idea. Eli hadn't joined them for tea that afternoon, and she was feeling quite worried about her. She sighed and thought about going back to her room when a cough caught her attention. She knocked softly on the door.

"Come in."

Mio poked her head in, surprised to see Eli lying in bed, a hand resting on her forehead while the other one rested on her upper stomach.

"Eli-chan, what's wrong? Are you feeling sick?"

Eli nodded her head as she managed to, slightly smiling at her roommate before coughing again. Mio closed the door behind her and walked up to her bed. She reached out and pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead, which was burning because of the fever.

"Oh my, you are burning! Let me get you a wet cloth for your forehead."

Before Eli could complain, Mio had already left, leaving the blonde girl sitting on her bed, with a smal smile on her lips. She returned a minute later, holding a cold damp cloth on her hands. She helped Eli to lie down on her bed again before placing the item on top of her forehead. Eli sighed with relief at the cool touch of the cloth against her skin, closing her eyes as she felt slightly better. She opened them and smiled sweetly at Mio.

"Thank you so much, Mio-chan. I didn't want to worry any of you."

"That's too late."

Mio turned around to find herself in front of a bluehaired twin tailed girl, stanting at the door frame, who smiled sweetly at both of them. She held up a bag from a drugstore.

"Did you really think that I wouldn't notice that cough of yours?"

Mio smiled with relief, but couldn't help to feel slightly annoyed by the interruption of the momment she had been sharing with Eli not long ago. Nozomi walked up to them.

"As I said, I didn't want to worry you. I'm sorry. And thank you to both of you for taking care of me."

"It's the least we could do for you, Eli-chan."

"What would we do if we didn't have our beloved Elichika?"

Eli chuckled softly at the mention of the name her grandmother used with her. She began to cough after that, so Nozomi and Umi helped her to find a comfortable position to sleep and covered with the sheets. Nozomi placed her hand on top of Eli's and gave it a small squeeze.

"Take a pill and rest well. I'll come to check up on you in a few hours."

Eli nodded and mouthed a small thank you, before letting the two of them leave. She hesitatedly looked back to see if they switched the lights off, and Mio was about to do it, but Nozomi stopped her.

"She's afraid of darkness" she explained in a small whisper, and Mio blinked twice before nodding her head in understandment. She closed the door behind her and sighed.

* * *

An hour had gone by with the two teenagers talking about what had been happening in the last days. Maki had explained Nico the situation back in the Idol Studies' Club, with the Love Live! coming soon and her feelings about their activities. Nico nodded as she heard Maki's voice, trying to show her support through their movil device although she couldn't see her.

"So why do you think you feel like that? Is it because of us?"

"No, I- Well, I don't know. Maybe it's because of that."

Nico hummed as she played with a lock of her hair, imagining Maki doing the same.

"I think- well, I know I miss you. But that shouldn't be the reason why I feel like this, don't you think? I'm an Idol, you know. I should be out there, smiling and making everyone smile. Heck, I would even do a Maki-Maki-Kiiiissu! or whatever."

"Hey, no stealing, Maki-chan" she teased, before nodding again in understanding. "I know how you feel, since I also feel like this in the College Idol Club. You know, today, when I saw Nozomi leave... My heart felt broken. Not because of her angriness, but because of what it meant to me. To see Nozomi-chan's back made me realize that it was really over, that she wasn't going to go up to the stage and sing next to me. It's really over, you know?"

"Hm, I know that feeling."

They stood in silence for a couple of seconds before Maki started talking again.

"Have I told you about our group's name?"

"No, you haven't. I hope it's not as lame as the one the group mates decided for us."

"It's called _Shinyuukyuu._"

Nico blinked twice, trying to process the meaning of the name.

"Shinyuukyuu? Like, nine close friends?"

"Hm."

"It sounds quite cool. Who came up with the name? Umi-chan? Kotori-chan?"

"It was me, actually."

Nico paused to blink, each time Maki talked she felt more and more surprised because of the changes in the Otonokizaka Academy's Idol Studies' Club.

"Really?"

"Hm."

She could imagine Maki playing with a lock of her hair at that momment.

"When I wrote that name on my paper, I wasn't thinking about the group we have nowadays. I was thinking about μ's. I was thinking about the great friendship we built, that kept us close to each other. I didn't want it to be our group name because everytime I would hear it I would think of what has been gone."

"Then why was it decided to be the group's name?"

"Well, Rin messed everything up, as expected, and I endep up saying that the name stood for us and the fans, who are also a member of the idol club."

"Well, why don't you think about it that way, then? It's a really cool name." She heard Maki gasp at the realization. "If you decide to go to Love Live!, please, let me know. I would love to be there with a red lightstick. Because your colour is still red, right?"

"It's purple now, Yukiho's colour is red."

"Oh, purple suits you, too."

"What's your colour?"

"I think it's going to be light blue."

"Heh? It doesn't suit you at all."

"I know, right?"

"..." Maki stood in silence for a couple of seconds before speaking again. "I have you agree with Nozomi."

"Huh?"

"I want my Nico-chan back, too."

Nico smiled heartedly and let some of her tears go.

* * *

Monday arrived before anyone could tell this day to leave. Nico woke up earlier than usual that day, since she had been avoiding her friends since Saturday, just to allow herself to think about everything that had been going on lately. She left a friendly note by the door for Yui, knowing that she was going to pick her up to go to class together. As she went down the stairs to have her breakfast, she thought about the way her new friend behaved with her, and smiled slightly at the thought. She liked the way Yui made her feel. She felt special and loved, which made everything really easier.

As she sat down to have her breakfast, she felt her phone vibrating inside her pocket, so she took it out to find a cheerful message from Eli.

_'Morning, Nico-chan!_

_Today is going to be a harasho day, I feel it!_

_Would you meet us in our rehearsal room after classes?_

_I'll leave you the address here, but I think Yui would be glad to guide you there._

_See you later!'_

Giving the message a joyful smile, she returned her phone to her pocket. She ate her food while thinking what was her friend up to.

* * *

Nico raised her brows with suspicion at her mate as they walked towards the rehearsal room. She couldn't help but worry about and wonder why Yui was looking so weird that day.

"Aren't you wearing like a lot of clothes today? You look certainly different" Nico pointed out, and Yui shook her head.

"No, no! You're wrong. This is the way I dress everyday."

"Well, then you're just sweating a lot."

"Hehe, he, hehe..." Yui laughed slightly, wiping the sweat away from her forehead. As they reached the rehearsal room, some voices could be heard from the corridor.

"Do you think she will come?"

"Don't worry, Eli-chan! Yui-chan will make sure to bring her here!"

"Mugi-chan is right, no need to worry. She will have to follow her wether she wants or not."

A hit was heard.

"Ouch! That hurt, Mio!"

"Don't be like that to Yui, mou!"

"By the way, Mio-chin, those clothes look wonderful on you."

"Oh, t-thank you, Nozomi-chan..."

Yui chuckled as they reached the door of the rehearsal room.

"Why am I here, may I ask again?" Nico asked, frowning at her mate.

"You'll se, you'll see!"

Yui held the doorknob and opened it, revealing the five members of Houkago Tea Time, standing there beside their instruments, wearing gabardines. Nico looked around.

"What's going on?"

Nozomi stepped forward and placed herself in the center of the group, smiling sweetly at her friend.

"Well, you didn't leave us any other option, so we had to figure out a solution for everything that has been happening lately."

Nico frowned at her friend, not knowing if she should feel angry or just curious. Her eyes went wide opened as she watched her friend Eli step forward, taking off her gabardine as she did. Nozomi did the same, and soon, the other three members were doing the same.

"What-"

Before she could say anything else, Yui ran up to the rest of the members, taking off the clothes that covered her dress.

"Yazawa Nico-" Nozomi started, but shook her head as she corrected herself. "No, Nico-chan, please welcome to..."

"_K-ON! College Idol Project!_" the members exclaimed at the same time.

Nico felt her eyes getting teary as she watched the dresses the six of them were wearing, which looked similar to the ones Honoka, Umi and Kotori had worn for their first performance.

"But what- how-"

"Well, while Eli-chi was sick, she said something that made me think about our future." Nozomi began to explain. Eli blushed a little and nodded her head.

"Nozomi told me that I said 'Idol... Keion'."

"So we talked about it next morning, and Tsuu-chan suggested us to mix both things" Ritsu continued.

"We loooooved the idea so much! Well, almost all of us, since Mio-chan refused to join" Yui chuckled, while pointing at her embarrased friend.

"But after I told her that it would help us to feel our music more, she agreed to join this project."

"And besides, since we are a brand new style, we will be closer to the Budokan!" Ritsu exclaimed.

"Calm down!" Mio complaining, attempting to hit her forehead but failing on purpose.

"But how- how are we going to do it? I understand that some of you will play, but..." Nico asked. Nozomi chuckled.

"You already have the answer to that. Don't think I didn't see what you did at Maki's summer house, when you competed against her at who was more musically talented. I know you can play guitar and drums."

"I-I was discovered!" Nico jumped. "But how will that help?"

"Do you remember the subunits we used to have in μ's? Like BiBi, or Lily White" Eli explained, looking at Nico at first and then to Nozomi, to emphasize her point. Nico nodded her head in answer.

"That's what we will do. We will create subunits with three members dancing and singing while the rest of the members play instruments." Nozomi ended the explanation.

Nico felt herself crying, she couldn't believe the girls took so much consideration.

"So? Are you in, Nico-chan?" Yui held her hand out to her. Nico tried to keep her cool before shaking her hand, a wide smile crossing her face.

"I'm totally in."

"Yatta!" Mugi exclaimed, and everyone began to cheer and celebrate the begining of their new project.

"And what about these costumes?" Nico asked, as she watched Mugi move around the room, preparing some tea.

"Sawa-chan made them for us!" Yui proudly exclaimed.

"Sawa-chan was our teacher and manager. Mugi-chan called her and she spent all night making the costumes."

"I just called her to catch up on her, but she insisted."

"She even called Kotori-chan to find out our measures" Nozomi pointed out, and Eli didn't seem to know that information, since she jumped up.

"Horosho."

"And by the way, this is for you" Nozomi held up a bag to Nico, who felt her eyes more teary as before. She reached out to hold the bag and began to cry as she found a pink costume inside the bag. She ran up to hug Nozomi.

"Nozomi..." she managed to mutter between her sobs. "Thank you, Nozomi. Thank you."

"And also, you should have these."

Nico pulled away to look at Yui, who was holding her hand out, handing her two ribbons. Nico wipped her tears away with her thumb and nodded her head.

"I will never quit wearing my twin tails again."

"I hope so! Looking at you from behind, you looked like Mio. It was really confusing" Ritsu complained.

"Except that I'm way taller than her, you" Mio teased, chuckling.

As they kept their little celebration, Nico left the room, unable to wait to wear her costume. Once in the bathroom, she checked her phone and smiled to find a message from a certain someone.

_'Nico-chan, I hope you're feeling better._

_I'm feeling better after talking to you._

_I guess the Nico-Nico-Nii smile works._

_By the way, I told the members of Shinyuu9,_

_that we should join the Love Live!_

_They agreed._

_Our presentation performance is in three weeks._

_Make sure to hold a purple lightstick, okay?_

_I will look for you in the audience.'_

Nico smiled brightly before placing her phone inside her handbag and taking out the pink costume.

She would have to leave the Idol Club, and she would have never thought that the idea of leaving it would make her that happy.

She was so looking forward to their next rehearsal.


	9. Chapter VIII Part I

**A.N- Hey there! I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who are reading this fanfiction, since writing it is making me really happy. **

**As an answer to tsundereattack-san's review, I also hope we are seeing the same couple. I can also see two of them happening and maybe I'll make both of them happen, but I'm still confused on how to, since, like I said before, I have all my chapters planned so it's complicated to find the right momment to fit another story in.**

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter! ^^ It's going to be a long one, in fact, I'm dividing it in parts.**

**Warnings: Sawa-chan is coming (?)**

* * *

**Chapter VIII**

"I want Shinyuu9 to go to the Love Live!"

Everyone looked surprised at Maki, who had just arrived to the club room, where everyone was gathering to discuss their plans on the concert for the upcoming school festival.

"Horosho" Arisa muttered as a small smile appeared on her face.

"That's the Maki we used to know, nyaa!" the leader jumped from her seat and ran up to hug the redhead.

"I-it's not like any of you wouldn't think about that."

"Well... If-if we compete this time, it won't be like last time. There will be people who supported our previous group, but may feel distant to the group we have nowadays."

"Hanayo is right. Besides, A-RISE doesn't exist anymore, so we must be alert for the group UTX will be presenting" Umi pointed out.

"Why don't we go there and check it out? It wouldn't hurt us to walk a little. It may give us some ideas for our first live as Shinyuu9!" Honoka suggested.

"Honoka, but the practic-" Umi tried to say.

"That's a nice idea! Let's go nyaa!" Rin exclaimed, holding Maki by her wrist and dragging her outside.

"W-wait, Rin! I have to send a text message!" Maki protested, holding her phone. Rin looked back and nodded.

"Okay, but hurry up, then." Rin winked an eye at her and then went back to the rest of the members, who were already leaving the clubroom. "So is everyone else ready to leave?"

"Um!" Kotori nodded with a huge smile on her face.

"It has been a while since we haven't visited Akiba, right?" Umi commented, since she could see how excited Kotori looked, and besides, she couldn't change the situation anymore.

"Um! I'm happy, even though it's for checking our rivals out."

"I wonder how the new group will be... A-RISE used to be really popular back then, even when you won against them in the last Love Live!" Yukiho commented.

"I would say that people supported them more when they lost, which is rather confusing" Umi answered.

"But that's normal in an idol group! I mean, when they fall from being the top idols, their fans feel more close to them, so they show their support more closely. It's like the fallen legend of the school idols!" Hanayo explained, talking fastly as she did.

"Wao, she still gets really excited when talking about idols" Maki commented as she returned to where everyone was standing, placing her phone back in her handbag.

"I still like Kayo-chin that way nyaa~!" Rin exclaimed, smiling widely. "Okay, let's go now!"

* * *

"For it being the very first rehearsal it went quite well" Eli commented, placing her hand on her own neck. They were sitting around the table back in the dorm after a rather exhausting first rehearsal.

"There are some things we should fix, but it was quite awesome!" Mio cheered.

"We have to find a way to not cover Ricchan when singing" Mugi suggested and the mentioned girl nodded her head.

"Maybe by using a platform?" Nico asked.

"Oh, that's clever! That way everyone would see me!" Ritsu exclaimed.

"You have a great mind, Niconyan!" Yui praised, and Nico blushed.

"Of course. Don't you know it's me who you are talking about?"

"It's nice to see you back, Nico-chi" Nozomi smiled at her before drinking a sip of her tea.

"Oh, everyone is here already. Hi, there~" Tsubasa greeted as she entered the room.

"Welcome!" they greeted her back.

"I have news for you" the green eyed girl said, taking a seat next to Ritsu.

"What kind of news?" Ritsu asked.

"Great news!" she exclaimed, while taking a pamphlet out of her handbag. Everyone reached out to get a glance of what it was written on it.

"The college's music festival!" Mio exclaimed, getting excited. "Look at all those bands! Ritsu, this one was in the summer festival! Oh! And this one has a left-handed guitarist!"

"Breathe in, breathe out" Eli said, placing a hand on Mio's back. Nozomi chuckled at their antics.

"I don't know if you want to act there or not, but I have already asked the students' council's department in charge to organize this event. They said they would gladly add you on the list!" Tsubasa explained, giving them a smile as she said the last sentence.

"You're awesome, Tsuuchan!" Ritsu exclaimed, raising her arms on the air. Tsubasa chuckled.

"But isn't this festival in three weeks? Will we be alright?" Mio asked, getting suddenly worried.

"I think you'll be fine! You can always ask them to make your concert shorter, maybe you can turn it into a little presentation of your band project" Tsubasa suggested.

"Well, if we are going to do it, I would prefer us to do a whole concert. All of us have experience in performing, we just need brand new songs and practice them a lot" Eli said, exposing her point of view. Everyone nodded their head.

"Then I think I know what we should do..." Mio said before she stood up.

"Let's go on a training camp!" Eli and her said at the same time, while raising their fists in the air.

"They're just the same..." Ritsu muttered to herself.

"Mugi, do you think we could stay over in any of your vacation houses?" Mio asked the blonde. She brought a finger to her upper lip for a second before nodding her head.

"I guess we wouldn't have any trouble. I will call Papa to be sure about it" she smiled.

"Yay!" Nico, Yui and Ritsu exclaimed with joy.

"Remember, guys, these are not holidays" Mio gave them a cold glare.

"It'll be fine, Mio-chan!" Ritsu said, before turning her attention to Mugi. "Then then! Where are we going? To the mountain? Maybe to the woods? Ooh! To the beach?"

"What have I just told you?" Mio asked as she hit Ritsu's head. Everyone else couldn't help but laugh at the scene both of them were making.

"Well, it has been decided then. Let's go this weekend!" Eli cheerfuly exclaimed.

"Yes!"

* * *

As the girls stood in front of the building of UTX, they couldn't help but feel nervous about the new idol group the school idol club would be presenting. They felt like they would have to run anytime soon. Rin felt somehow weird, being there without Nico wearing her super big sunglasses and her face-mask. She had missed the other members before, but she had never missed Nico as much as she did at that single momment.

The screen was switched on and the three ex-members of A-RISE were now on the screen. Honoka stared at the screen, feeling nostalgic, looking straight at Tsubasa, who was really nice to them in the past.

"Welcome to the UTX Academy! We are the now former school idols from this academy, A-RISE!" the leader announced. Some fangirls shouts were heard.

"This message must have been recorded before their graduation" Hanayo pointed out.

"Since we are graduating from this lovely school, we would like you to join the school idol club! There's always place for a new group!" Anju said.

"You can become the idol you have always wanted to be" Erena continued.

"Erena and I have been accepted in different colleges, but I'm sure we will always, always be friends. And of course, we will always love our fans!" Tsubasa exclaimed.

"We love you!"

Some fangirls screamed again, Hanayo now included between them. She then covered her mouth and blushed.

"Then, then, we are glad to show you the new school idol group we will totally support!" Tsubasa reached out and pointed at the camera. "Enjoy them!"

"I wonder how they will be..." Rin muttered.

The presentation video started playing and they were astonished to find five girls dressed as super heroines.

"Hinoi Asuka! Ready to protect the world from the darkness!"

"Takenaka Rina! I'll blow your mind with my power!"

"Takeuchi Karin! You won't be able to remember anything... but me."

"Yaguchi Kei! I'm the key to the proggress."

"And me, I'm Todou Erena, the chosen one."

"Together, we are TheUnstoppables!"

Umi gasped at the sight of the five of them. Soon enough, the fangirls who were shouting for A-RISE, were now shouting for them. The members of Shinyuu9 looked at each other, doubtfounded.

"What are we going to do? They seem to have gathered a lot of attention..." Yukiho muttered.

"Let's do a training camp!" Umi exclaimed.

"That's it! Maki-chuaaaaan, please nyan!" Rin bowed at her classmate.

"Why is it always my house?"

"It's not like any of us has a home somewhere else" Honoka chuckled.

"Oh, my sister and I do have another house, but it's in Russia. I don't think you would like to go that far" Arisa commented. Umi felt slightly nervous at the mention of their senior and friend, although her name wasn't said.

"Well, then, I guess I don't have any other option. Yeah, we can do a training camp."

"Yay!" all of them exclaimed, except for Maki, who just blushed and looked at the ground.

"Let's go this weekend then! Let's go nyaa!"

* * *

"Let's do a training camp!" Azusa exclaimed as soon as she entered the light music club room.

"What?" Jun asked, raising an amused eyebrow at her friend.

"That's sounds fun!" Ui clapped her hands together. The other members, Keika and Hikaru, just shrugged their shoulders.

"I don't think I could attend..."

"We haven't said a date, you." Jun complained, before returning her attention to Azusa. "But how are we going to do it?"

"Well, don't you have a vacation house, Jun-chan?" Ui asked. "Since you're Maki-chan's neighbour, you know..."

"Oh, if that's what you meant, no, I'm not as rich as she is. In fact, I live in an appartment block in front of her house" she explained, smiling at them.

"Then, do you think Maki-chan would lend us her vacation house?" she insisted.

"Well, I think we have asked her enough favours. More than enough, I would say."

"Then where are you planning to do our training camp, Azusa-chan?" Jun asked, crossing her arms, intrigued because of the idea Azusa was hiding.

"Well, Ui's parents are out of town again, and I was wondering if maybe you wouldn't mind having us stay over" the twintailed girl stated, while looking at her friend.

"Oh, that would do it! May we, Ui?" Jun asked.

"Of course! I will call my parents just to make sure, but I'm sure they will be fine with it" Ui smiled.

"Yatta!" Azusa and Jun exclaimed.

* * *

"So for the begining of the concert, I thought it would be a nice idea to make a version of Nico-Ni-Nico-Nian" Eli suggested, while Mugi nodded her head. Nico backed in shock.

"What?! Are you serious?" she asked, her eyes glowing because of her enthusiasm. Eli nodded.

"It would be a great begining. You would be the center vocalist, while Eli-chan would play the violin and Nozomi can play the guitar. Mio and Yui could be your backvocals" Mugi thought aloud, while nodding her head to herself. Yui, next to her, couldn't help but smile at the idea.

"That sounds so fun!"

"We would begin the concert as a normal band for three songs, and then we would slip into the subunits. It will be interesting!" Eli smiled.

"But Nozomi as the second guitar... Is she alright?" Mio asked, while looking at the mentioned girl. Nozomi just smiled at her.

"Don't worry, don't worry! I have learnt all the chords Yui taught me."

"Can you play the F chord?" Eli asked, a worried look on her face appearing, thinking that her friend could be overworking herself.

"Oh, I haven't tried that one. How is it played?" she asked. Yui got near to her while holding Guitah.

"Okay, this one is really complicated, so don't get frustrated if it doesn't work at first" Yui warned, and Nozomi nodded her head. Yui motioned her to look at her left hand as she played the mentioned chord, and Nozomi played plenty attention to her.

"Oh, like this?" she played the F chord with no problem, which made everyone in the room gasp in shock.

"B-but, how did you-"

"Guitah! Have you seen that?!"

"Horosho!"

"It can't be! How did you do that? It took me months to manage to play the F chord!" Nico complained, crossing her arms.

"I guess the fortune is helping me out~" she smiled. Eli shook her head, mirroring her smile.

"Mou, Nozomi, you're surely amazing" she commented, which made the girl grin and blush slightly.

"Well, let's play Nico-Ni-Nico-Nyan, then!" Ritsu said, clapping her hands.

"Okay~!"

* * *

"We are heading to the mountains~!" Rin exclaimed as soon as they arrived at the train station. Maki, who stood next to her, sighed at her friend's antics.

"Calm down, you. It's not a big deal."

"Maki-chan's family is so nice for letting us stay over their houses" Umi commented and Kotori nodded her head.

"Um, they are always watching for us, it's really nice of them!"

"Oh, my mom gave me some sweets for all of us so we could eat them on the way to Maki-chan's vacation house!"

"It's my mother, too. In fact, I'm the one carrying the sweets" Yukiho complained.

"Wow! Thank you, Honoka-chan! Yuu-chan!" Rin exclaimed.

"Weren't we going to have a diet?" Maki complained.

"I guess a little bit won't hurt us" Umi said, and Hanayo nodded her head energeticaly.

"Besides, it would be such a crime not to eat these delicious traditional sweets!"

"Kayo-chin is right nyaa~!"

"Horosho!"

Everyone turned around to look at the short blonde, who had her hands covering her mouth.

"What's wrong, Arisa-chan?"

"Is that... Isn't that my sister?"

* * *

"We made it on time! I can't believe it we made it on time!" Nico said as she tried to catch her breath.

"Well, in fact, more than on time. Our train will arrive in 15 minutes" Ritsu chuckled, thinking of the way Nico had been running around.

"We could have been late, you know! I wouldn't want that! In fact, it would have been easier if we didn't have to carry our instruments..."

"Oh, now that I realize, that's the first time I see your guitar" Mio pointed out.

"That's true! You have been using Guitah whenever you had to practice this week."

"Which, considering how protective Yui is with her guitar, it has been quite interesting" Ritsu commented.

"I wonder how your guitar will look" Eli tilt her head with curiousity, before smiling at them.

"Let me guess, is it pink?" Nozomi teased.

"How-? Stop teasing me, Nozomi!"

Everyone laughed at that, even Nico herself. Suddenly, Mio heard some noise coming behind her. She wanted to turn around, but as she looked back, all she could see was a black siluete, which made her feel afraid. Eli, who stood next to her, noticed her shivering and turned around to face a brownhaired woman wearing glasses.

"Sorry for being late, guys."

"Sawa-chan!" the former members of Houkago Tea Time exclaimed at the same time.

"How did you- Are you a stalker?" Ritsu asked, still in shock.

"I'm not! Yui messaged me about it. Like, a lot of times. Here, look" she took out her phone and showed them the messages, but it wasn't necessary to read them to know that Yui could have messaged her.

"Ooh, so you were worried about us! Could it be that the former member of the scariest light music band was missing us a lot?" Ritsu teased.

"It wasn-! Well, yes, maybe I did miss you..." she muttered the last part, and before she could stop them, she was being hugged by the four members.

"We did miss you, too." Mio said.

"_This is it, this!_" Sawa-chan whispered to herself, almost feeling like crying.

"So this is your former teacher, Yamanaka-sensei" Eli said, before politely bowing at her. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's fine if you call her Sawa-chan" Yui suggested.

"Yui!" Mio complained.

"It's okay. Your friends are my friends too" Sawa-chan smiled.

"Your friends are scary. And most of them, married." Ritsu pointed out, getting slapped by both Mio and Sawako because of her answer.

"Well, better be going then~" Nozomi suggested, smiling at all of them before turning around.

"Onee-chan!" they heard someone exclaim. Eli turned around roughly at the sound of her sister's voice, unable to believe what she was listening. Her usual smile widened at the sight of her sister, along with the members of the Idol Study Club.

"Arisa-chan! Everyone!" she opened her arms to invite her sister to a teddy bear hug, which Arisa gladly accepted.

Soon enough, the train station was filled with hellos, giggles and self introductions.

As soon as the violete eyes of a certain redhead met Nico's, they couldn't help but smile. Mimicking Eli's previous move, she opened her arms to invite her into a hug, and Maki left her tsundere attitude aside and ran up to her. As they pulled each other into a comfortable and rather tight embrace, the sound of an arriving train resounded around them.

They had to run to catch their train, but they felt happy that they were running for the same train.

_'If we are lucky enough'_ Honoka thought _'we will live next to each other!'_


End file.
